


The Nerve of Some People

by TheMightyChipmunk



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, Friends With Benefits, M/M, Mentions of Smut, Multi, Mutual Pining, Polyamory, dumb boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2017-12-27
Packaged: 2019-02-03 05:54:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12742305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMightyChipmunk/pseuds/TheMightyChipmunk
Summary: The Losers Club is dramatic.





	1. Challenge Accepted

**Author's Note:**

> I have had this idea in my head for a while and I am finally writing it !!!!! Hope you all like it!

Eddie _could not stop kissing_ this boy. He hated how much power Richie had over him simply through the push and pull of their lips together. It was intoxicating, honestly. It even made the pulsing beat of the bass settle deep in Eddie’s gut, instead of making his skin go tight and speed up his anxiety, the heat of the room and the noise just made him hotter.

And he thought he was going to _hate_ frat parties. But it turns out when he was in a hot boy’s lap, he didn’t mind so much.

He usually did hate them, but tonight had turned out different because Eddie Kaspbrak had a mission.

“I need to get laid tonight.” Eddie had said earlier that day as he collapsed onto Bill’s couch. The boy had been sitting at a barstool, eating cereal (even though it was three in the afternoon? He was a good guy and Eddie loved him to death but he had The Most Unhealthy eating habits of anyone he knew) and he looked slightly shook. Not because he was surprised. Eddie was a bit… loose with his sexuality. Bill just didn’t know Eddie was coming. Or that he had a key to his apartment.  

“Oh…kay,” he muttered through a mouthful of Apple Jacks, “So you’re gonna tag along to SKA’s party with me and Mike?” Eddie nodded contemplatively.

“Sure. They aren’t the rapey ones, right?” Eddie needed to double-check because if he was going to get laid, realistically, he would need a little bit of liquid courage and he wanted to feel safe.

“Of course not,” Bill laughed, “We don’t hang out with them.” He assured him. Eddie nodded and Bill stared at him for a long moment before slowly smirking.

“I’m pretty sure Richie is going to be there.” Bill added and Eddie rolled his eyes.

“Why would that matter to me?”

“Oh please, we both know he’s who you’re going to end up with tonight.” Bill laughed through a bite of cereal and Eddie grimaced.

“I am disgusted both by what you said and the way in which you said it. Chew your slop before you speak, Bill, please.” Eddie snapped, moving off of the couch and into the kitchen, gently slapping the back of Bill’s head as he passed him.

“Honestly, I don’t know why you’re so obsessed with me and Richie. We sleep together sometimes, that’s it. That’s how we work. Anything else is… too messy.” Eddie explained. He hopped up on the counter and grabbed an apple from the bowl there.

“B-because you guys are perfect for each other and one day Mike and I will be godfathers to your adopted children.” Bill said with a shrug. Eddie glared at him as he viciously bit into an apple.

So in theory it should have been a bit of a hit to his pride when he found himself pulled into Richie’s lap again, but he couldn’t find it in him to care because _Richie’s lips_.

“You wanna get out of here?” Richie asked, pulling back suddenly after Eddie started sucking on his bottom lip.

“Hmm?” Eddie asked, mind still fuzzy. Richie chuckled at him.

“I love that.” He whispered and Eddie gradually became more aware of his surroundings. He now felt the eyes on him, glances that were lingering for probably too long at the way Richie’s hands had slipped up the back of Eddie’s sweater, leaving a little bit of his back bare.

“Love what?” Eddie asked, nervously inching forward, trying to lose himself in the proximity to Richie, trying to go back to forgetting about everyone else.

“How kiss-stupid you get.” Richie explained with a wide grin. Eddie didn’t even try not to look offended.

“I do not get… _that_! That isn’t even a thing, Rich.” He argued, but Richie didn’t seem to be taking him too seriously since he had attached himself to Eddie’s neck again. He just hummed and sucked on Eddie’s neck harder, making him groan and tighten his grip on Richie’s shoulders.

“I wanted to _dance_.” Eddie complained and Richie pulled off, staring at Eddie with one eyebrow raised.

“Well, feel free. I’ll just sit here and watch. Although I don’t know quite how well you’re going to dance with _this._ ” Richie teased, grabbing and pushing up against Eddie’s pretty obvious erection, making the boy keen and rest his forehead against Richie’s.

“You make a good point, asshole… let’s go to yours. Wanna call an Uber?”

“Actually, I kinda drove here.”

“You _drove_ here?” Eddie asked, incredulous. Richie just blushed a little and tugged him up.

“Come on, I’ll show you.” Richie pulled him to the front of the house and Eddie trailed after him, confused. Richie didn’t have a car, he knew that. He knew that because a few times they needed a place to hook-up and if Richie had a car, that definitely would’ve been the place they’d gone to.

But no, he did not have a car, Eddie discovered.

“What. The. _Fuck_. Since when do you have a motorcycle?” Eddie asked, voice shocked when they stopped in front of a sleek black bike around the corner from the house. Richie didn’t stop the laugh that bubbled out.

“You may be surprised to hear this, but there is a _lot_ that you don’t know about me, babe.” Richie teased, wrapping his arms around Eddie’s waist and resting his chin on the top of his head.

 “Okay. That’s fair but… _Richie_?” he purred and Richie felt his stomach drop at that tone of voice, “I gotta tell you something.”

“Yeah?” Richie’s mouth was dry.

“That,” Eddie said, gesturing towards the bike before pulling away slightly so he could shift in Richie’s arms and turn to face him, “is _fucking_ hot.” Richie groaned and laughed in response, burying his face in Eddie’s neck, gently nipping the sensitive skin there before moving away decisively.

“You’re gonna kill me, Eds.” Eddie laughed and followed him, smiling widely when Richie fit the helmet over his head, “You ever been on a motorcycle before?” Eddie shook his head, swaying a little too much because the helmet was heavier than he thought it would be.

“Okay then, watch your shins against the tailpipe when you climb on and off. It’s hot and it’ll burn you if your skin touches it. Which usually isn’t a problem because _most boys_ that I take on here don’t wear ridiculously short shorts.” Richie teased, running his hand up the bare skin on Eddie’s thigh, driving him fucking crazy. “Also, hold tight to me and when I lean, you lean, yeah?” Richie explained further and Eddie nodded before leaning in to kiss Richie one more time.

The boy let him have it for a second before pulling back, winking, and climbing on the bike. At that moment, it would’ve been impossible for Eddie not to follow.

###

Richie couldn’t stop staring at Eddie. He had chosen to spend the night in Richie’s bed and was now tangled in his sheets looking like an actual angel. Richie tended to run cold so he liked to keep his room warm to sleep in. So usually, when Eddie spent the night, he gradually kicked off all the blankets and sheets. Hence Richie’s staring, because now the sheet rested just at the curve of Eddie’s pretty amazing ass and it was _a sight_.

Richie had woken up early (he always did) and he was trying to go through and edit his photos for his portfolio but… how could he do that when there was literal art lying in his bed? Richie glanced at the clock and weighed whether or not it was too early to wake Eds. The boy got cranky if he didn’t sleep in but Richie really wanted to take a photo of him and he didn’t want to do it without permission but the sun was kissing him _perfectly_ right now…

In the middle of Richie’s mental debate, Eddie groaned, shifting slightly as he started to wake up. He stretched his legs out for a moment before returning back and somehow shifting the blanket to an even more perfect position, settling a little lower.

His ass was honestly unbelievable. As was the soft tan of his skin and the freckles that dotted his shoulders and the gentle curl of his hair and the delicate way he moved and the bruises that Richie had left on his hips…

“You should honestly be naked… all the time.” Richie breathed and Eddie looked over at him like he was crazy.

“It’s too early for how weird you are, Tozier.” Eddie croaked and Richie wanted to _groan_ because his voice was all scratchy and hoarse and it probably had something to do with last night. And the dick that Richie had shoved down his throat.

Which may have not been a thought that fit the gentle beauty of the moment but Richie still fucking loved it.

“You gotta let me take a photo of you.” Richie begged, pulling his camera off his desk next to him. Richie exected some kind of protest but maybe it was the sleepiness or maybe it was the recent lay, but Eddie didn’t even raise his head from his pillow, just nodded an affirmation. And Richie didn’t know if it was wishful thinking but Eddie even looked almost _fond_.

“Sure, weirdo. What do you want me to do?” Eddie asked and he made to sit up but Richie made a protesting noise.

“Literally just stay exactly as you are. Preferably forever.” Richie said as he brought the camera up. He really hoped he got a shot in time to capture that trademark You’re-Annoying-But-Also-Cute look that Eddie always gave him.

“You’re so fucking gorgeous.” Richie muttered because he _was_. Eddie still blushed, bringing his hands up from where they were bunched in the pillow and covering his face. Richie snapped one last photo of that because he fucking had to, and then he set down the camera on his desk again and climbed back into bed to finally touch all that golden skin.

“We had sex literally all of last night. Are you never satiated?” Eddie asked, sass back in full force now that he wasn’t compliment-shy. Richie could talk all he wanted about how badly he wanted to fuck him and Eddie wouldn’t bat an eye, but call him beautiful? And Eddie would full-body _blush_. It was amazing.

Richie placed a series of wet kisses down Eddie’s spine and shook his head, “ _Never_.” He insisted. Eddie laughed and Richie didn’t need to see his face to know he rolled his eyes, but he still arched his back gently, moving closer to Richie.

“I wish I never had to stop touching you,” Richie whispered against his skin as he grabbed Eddie’s ass and started to spread him gently, reveling in Eddie’s groan, “How is your skin so fucking soft? How am I supposed to think of _anything_ -” Richie was cut off by his phone ringing loudly, blaring out the ringtone he had specially set for Bev ( _Promiscuous,_ the one with Nelly).

“You have to get that, don’t you?” Eddie whined, staring down at Richie with wide eyes and if it had been _anyone else calling_ Richie wouldn’t have been able to resist him. But Bev knew who he was with and he knew she wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t important.

“I’m sorry.” Richie let go of him reluctantly and placed a parting kiss to Eddie’s cheek before sitting up to grab his phone. “Bev? What’s cracking, pretty lady?”

“Did you send in those photos to Franklin for our joint project?” she asked, barring any greeting and Richie sat up straighter because she did not sound happy.

“ _Yes_. I finished editing them yesterday and sent them in. They were perfect. Did he not _get_ them?” Richie understood why she sounded nervous now and his stomach dropped a little. Franklin was one of their tougher professors and he _hated_ accepting late work, even though it was department policy that he had to. This project was a big one too, the four of them together that he assigned would be worth three fourths of his whole fucking _grade_.

“Apparently not and I just had my advising meeting with him and he’s _pissed_. BRING THEM NOW! He’s in his office for another hour.” Bev pleaded and Richie jumped out of bed, searching for pants.

“ _Fuck_. Okay, I will, I’ll leave as soon as I can.”

“Thanks, Richie.” Bev breathed before hanging up. Richie shoved the phone in his pocket then shrugged on a hoodie.

“You have to go?” Eddie asked and Richie wanted to _cry_ , because their moment was totally gone. Eddie’s voice wasn’t soft and inviting anymore, sinking into something more resigned and Richie could practically hear the walls going back up. He sighed.

“I’m sorry, you know I wouldn’t leave if it wasn’t important.”

“It’s okay. I probably overstayed my welcome anyway.” Eddie reasoned and Richie wanted to yell how _fucking_ impossible that was, but he knew it would scare Eddie away. The boy had made it very clear that they were not in a relationship. They were fucking. That was it. At the beginning of their… thing, Richie had been on board with that. Eddie was cute and feisty as fuck and Richie was totally fine just banging him.

He had NOT been banking on Eds being perfect in literally every other way as well.

Richie knew, he just _knew_ , that if Eddie would let him, he would fall in love with him. But Eddie refused to let them to be anything more than they already were. To be fair, Richie had never told him how he felt, so maybe it was Richie’s fault too but… Richie was too scared of losing what he had.

“You can stay as long as you want. I probably won’t be gone too long? If you wanna do breakfast or-”

“That’s sweet, but no. I should go.” Eddie insisted, staring down at his nails instead of looking Richie in the eye.

“Right. Okay, well, the apartment is empty because Bev and Ben are out so… just shut the door behind you, yeah?” Richie said, failing to hide his bitterness. Eddie just nodded and didn’t look up. Richie checked his pockets for his keys and wallet and flash drive and was ready to go, but then…

He had to kiss him once more. He leaned down and slipped a hand into Eddie’s hair and kissed him, slow and sweet. He pulled back sooner than he wanted, smiling widely when Eddie tried to chase his lips.

“See you later, Eds.”

###

“Bye, Rich.” Eddie muttered, lips still tingling as Richie bounded out the door. When he heard the front door slam, he collapsed back into the pillows behind him with a soft _hmph_.

“What the fuck am I doing?” he whispered to himself as he stared at the blank white ceiling that did nothing to help him.

He was so obviously in love with Richie. Which was honestly… the scariest thing. The Scariest Thing Ever. He was good at hiding it, but being with Richie literally lit him up inside, made him feel more alive than he could remember in a long time. For so much of his life he had been told he was _delicate_ , people had always expected him to be one wrong breath away from snapping.

But Richie never treated him that way. Not to mention he looked at Eddie like he was the fucking sun. It did things to a guy and Eddie couldn’t handle it, the way Richie’s usual shit-starting grin softened when he looked at him, how his whole focus would shift to Eddie when he walked into room.

Having Richie’s whole attention was a riveting thing. The first time it happened was at a Halloween party sophomore year. Mike and Bill had dragged Eddie along and the three of them made _Winne the Pooh_ costumes, Mike as Tigger, Bill as Eeyore, and Eddie as Pooh, literally because all he had to do was wear a red crop top with the drawn-on words _Pooh_ and yellow shorts. They got really cute pictures out of it.

Anyway, Eddie had noticed Richie the second he got to the party, but Richie took a while to notice him, bouncing around from group to group, never staying with anyone for too long. Until he got to Eddie, of course. Eddie had been casually keeping an eye on him meandering around the party, but lost him for a moment when he got too into a story Mike had been telling him. When he looked back over to try and find the boy again, Eddie couldn’t find the curly hair or orange jumpsuit. So, he hopped off of the couch under the excuse of going to get another beer from the kitchen when really he was just hoping to see him again.

And he did.

“Nice costume.” Eddie heard from behind him as he bent over to grab a beer from the cooler. He yelped and turned around and felt butterflies in his stomach when he saw _him_.

“Thanks. I like yours too… dead convict?” Eddie guessed, taking in the orange jumpsuit that was unzipped enough to reveal a white tank-top with a fake pipe sticking out of his chest. The boy looked at him like he was crazy.

“I’m Nathan! From Misfits?” he clarified but Eddie still looked confused.

“Sorry, I’ve never seen it.” Eddie apologized, moving to lean against the counter and pop open his can. The boy shook his head and moved with him, taking a pull of his own drink.

“Really? British convicts get caught in a hail storm that gives them superpowers? Doesn’t ring a bell?” Eddie just shook his head.

“No… I think you made that up, honestly.”

“You’re breaking my heart, cutie. Hey, maybe we could watch it together sometime. I’m Richie, by the way.” Richie said, reaching a hand out for Eddie to shake.

“Eddie,” he replied, taking Richie’s hand and shaking it firmly, “And maybe? I don’t really watch a lot of TV.”

“No? What do you do?” Richie asked suggestively, not letting go of Eddie’s hand. He also set his beer down on the counter behind Eddie and then kept his hand there, boxing Eddie in with a smirk.

“Other stuff.” Eddie offered unhelpfully, starting to lose his words simply due to the buzz of being so close to this boy.

“Other stuff like… staring at strange boys at parties?” Richie teased and Eddie felt his cheeks flush hot.

“Ohhhh, you noticed that, huh?” Eddie asked sarcastically and he felt Richie’s hand move to his hip as they both laughed.

“Yes, yes I did. It can do wicked things to a guy’s ego, someone like you staring like that.” Richie grinned and Eddie decided he was being childish. He felt himself getting flustered like he was getting a _crush_ and he was not some inexperienced teenager. He knew how to get what he wanted and he _wanted this boy_.

“You know, usually I don’t just _stare_.” Eddie whispered, tilting his head up so that all Richie would have to do was lean forward slightly and they’d be kissing. Richie was a lot taller than him, but he was already leaning over him, arched as close as he could get.

Eddie stared at the boy’s lips for a long moment before he seemed to get with the program, moving forward the last few inches and fitting their lips together. He started it off chaste, which was sweet, but not exactly what Eddie wanted, so he leaned forward and pushed their bodies together before opening his mouth and slipping his tongue against Richie’s lips.

Richie did not need to be told twice and immediately changed tactics, deepening the kiss and bringing his hands to the small of Eddie’s back, tugging him up closer so that he was on his tip-toes.

“ _Wow_. You’re _good_ at that.” Eddie murmured, pretty dumb-founded when he had to pull back and when he opened his eyes Richie was smiling.

“I’m starting to think _every_ kiss I’ve had before was practice for that one.” Richie whispered breathlessly, still not opening his eyes.

“I bet you say that to all the boys.” Eddie teased but Richie just shook his head and kissed him softly again before finally staring back at Eddie.

“I really don’t,” he said in a moment of shocking sincerity, before ruining it with, “Just to you and your mom.” And Eddie, against all odds, barked out a laugh.

“You’re fucking ridiculous.” Eddie blurted, shocked that the guy could make such a bad joke and Eddie could still want him so much, “Wanna get out of here?”

“ _So bad_.”

And the rest was history. Eddie and Richie had been hooking up on-and-off ever since. That’s one and a half years of friends-with-benefits, which was already longer than Eddie expected either of them to be able to handle. The thing was, it wasn’t just sex, especially not that first time. It was sex and then staying up and talking all night and then more sex and then watching movies and arguing and more sex and… If he was being honest with himself, they were more than just friends with benefits. They texted all the time, Eddie was pretty sure they were _barely_ seeing other people, if at all, and when they were together it was… magic.

But Eddie never was good at being honest with himself, so he just pretended like it was normal want to be with one person more than anyone else and still only see them when he wanted to fuck. He pretended it was normal friend stuff that Richie kissed him and everything else in the world fell away. He pretended it was normal friend stuff that Richie’s arms were starting to feel like home. All of it.

But the pretending was getting harder and harder and he was getting more and more afraid of getting hurt. Because that was how all relationships ended up, right? Someone inevitably got hurt and Eddie was so fucking fickle and _oh God what if he hurt Richie?_ That thought was honestly even worse.

So maybe he was just going to have to… spend some time away from Richie, let himself get the fuck over him. He wasn’t that great anyway, right? He talked all the time and he was gross and sloppy and he was always desperate for attention and he barely slept and always complained about being tired and-

“Watch where you’re walking, Kaspbrak.” Someone spit at him and Eddie stopped where he was walking and spun around because _fuck yes_ was he in the mood to fight right now.

“There’s a whole fucking sidewalk, Bowers, and I was definitely on my side. Watch where _you’re_ walking, prick.”

“For the life of me, I will never understand how you hold so much fucking sass in that tiny little body, Eddie.” Bowers teased, moving towards Eddie and eyeing him up and down.

“ _Please_ don’t fucking push me right now, Bowers, because I really wanna punch someone and I would absolutely love for it to be you.”

“Only you would be salty on a walk of shame. Was the dick last night not good enough for you? I’d be happy to offer you mine-”

“In your _fucking_ dreams, you degenerate.” Eddie turned to walk away, realizing his mistake of trying to take out his anger on this particular asshole, but before he could get a step in he bumped into a boy with an armful of fliers.

“Oh, sorry! I didn’t expect you to- I was going to give you both this. My frat is holding their annual dare game next Friday. The winner gets $500 this year, if either of you are interested.” He made to hand one to Eddie but Henry snatched it out of his hand first. Eddie huffed and clenched his fists.

“Oh please, don’t give that to this one,” Bowers said, slinging an arm around Eddie’s shoulder and making him grimace, “He wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“The _fuck_ does that mean?” Eddie snapped, pushing his arm off of him and turning to glare.

“Is this guy giving you trouble?” the guy asked, looking between them with a concerned look.

“No.”

“ _Yes_.” The two of them responded simultaneously.

“It means that you’ve been a pussy for as long as I can remember, Kaspbrak. There’s no way you could a) get a team that would _want_ you or b) actually complete any of the dares. You’d end up running for mommy before the night is up.” Bowers explained smugly. Eddie felt the overwhelming urge to slap that fucking grin right off his face.

“You don’t know anything about me, Bowers. Back the fuck off.”

“Come on, I know a _little bit_ about you.” Henry whispered, moving in closer to Eddie and looking down at him with that obnoxious fucking glint in his eyes. Eddie resisted the urge to stand on his tiptoes to make him seem a little bit taller. _Fuck_ his tiny stature.

“Umm, I don’t really know what’s going on?” the guy cut in, breaking up the staring-glaring contest that Eddie and Henry were engaged in, “But I can… walk you back to your dorm? If that’ll make you feel better? I don’t like the looks of this guy.” He said, looking at Henry distastefully. Eddie felt a smug satisfaction settle in his stomach at that, even if it was kind of rude.

“That’s very sweet, thank you. I’d like that. I’ll see you at the game, Bowers.” Eddie replied, snatching the flier out of Henry’s hand and turning to walk away.

###

“Okay, I need a favor- were you guys making out?” Eddie blurted out as he stormed into Bill and Mike’s apartment. The two of them were tangled together on the couch and now glaring at Eddie.

“We _were_.” Mike groaned, gently sitting up and dislodging Bill from his lap.

“Oh, um… sorry.” Eddie said, hopping up on one of the barstools and turning to face his friends who were still grumbling, “Actually, wait, I would be more sorry if I knew what I was interrupting. Are you guys dating?”

“Occasionally.” Mike answered, throwing an arm around Bill’s shoulders and Eddie felt his brows furrow.

“You’re so extra, Mike, why you so vague? Anyway, we’ll cover that later, first, I need you guys to promise to do me a favor.”

“What’s the favor?” Bill asked skeptically.

“So, I was walking back to my dorm from Richie’s apartment and I ran into Bowers-”

“Ugh, that guy is the worst.” Bill cut in and Eddie nodded in agreement.

“Right?” Eddie emphasized before continuing, “Anyway, he was all being an ass and making fun of me for my walk of shame which is ridiculous and you all know why I think that, I won’t delve into that now. He was just being a big jerk. And so I was going to storm off so that I didn’t punch him in the throat but then this guy was passing out fliers for his frat’s Dare game thing.”

“Gamma Nu’s?”

“Yeah… you know of it?”

“Um, yes. It’s wild. They’ve been doing it for like… years, maybe even decades.” Mike explained, staring at Eddie like he was crazy, “Do you even _go_ to this school?”

“Barely. Anyway, the guy handed us the flier and Bowers was like _pssh Eddie is small and gay and sick and he can’t win this why even give him the flier_?”

“He s _aid that_?” Bill asked, incredulous and Eddie shrugged.

“I may be paraphrasing. But more or less, yes that is what he said. And so OBVIOUSLY I took the flier and we have to do it.”

“We _have to do it_.” Bill repeated, sitting up straighter and Eddie smiled because he knew he won. Bill’s word was pretty much law so if he won over Bill, he won in general.

“Eddie, I _swear_ , you only do things that people tell you that you _cannot do_.” Mike laughed.

“I don’t see the problem.” Eddie said.

“I cannot _believe_ he said that!” Bill scoffed, “We have to do it. Mike, we have to. We have to.” Bill insisted, standing up and grabbing the flier from Eddie’s hands. Eddie grinned and looked down at where Mike was groaning.

“You two enable each other.”

“We’re gonna kick his ass!” Bill screamed, excited and ignoring Mike, slamming the flier down on the counter.

“Yeah we are!” Eddie echoed him, caving to Bill’s infectious energy.

“Yeah we ARE!” Bill hugged him and Eddie laughed loudly before pulling back and clearing his throat.

“We do need three more people though, we need a team of six.” Eddie added. Bill nodded and looked to Mike immediately. Mike sighed.

“Yes, I can get us three more people.”

“Yeaaaaaaahhh!”

“Yeaaaaaaahhh!”

###

“NO, Ben, you have to hit, you’re the _house_.” Mike could hear Richie’s voice through the door as he walked up the stairs and towards the apartment.

“But I don’t _want_ to, what if I go over? I like 17.” Ben’s voice asked as Mike knocked on the door.

“Come in!” Bev’s voice called out over the others’ bickering. Mike twisted the knob and smiled at the scene he entered. Richie was hanging off of the sofa, legs askew and curls wild, staring at Ben like he was crazy. Ben was sitting on the floor in front of him, glaring at the cards laid out and at Richie intermittently. However the upset look in his eye was tempered by the fact that he was in matching pajamas with little cats on them. Bev was sitting in the Lazy Boy with a mess of blue yarn around her, munching on a bowl of popcorn.

“Hanlon!” Richie announced when he looked up to see who walked in, “Come tell Haystack the fucking rules to Blackjack. I don’t have the patience anymore.”

“You think _I_ know the rules, Tozier? That’s pretty racist, man.” Mike teased as he moved to sit on the side of Bev’s chair, slinging an arm around her. Richie laughed and flipped him off.

“You’re a shit starter, Mikey-boy.” Richie cackled before turning to Ben and throwing a handful of M&Ms at him, “Just put a fucking card down, Ben, otherwise nothing happens and I win by default.” Ben groaned and reluctantly threw down a card, but Mike turned to Bev instead of watching them.

“Hey, I didn’t know you knew how to knit.” he commented and Bev sighed.

“I don’t. I wanted to learn because I feel like learning to knit would match my aesthetic really well? But it’s really fucking _hard_.” Bev pouted.

“I’m pretty sure Eddie knows how to knit. And he’s a really good teacher, I’m sure he’d help you learn.” Mike added and Bev smiled up at him, about to respond but she was cut off.

“Wait, did someone say Eddie?” Richie scrambled up from his sprawl and turned to face Mike. Beverly rolled her eyes.

“This boy has a fucking _radar_ for Eddie Kaspbrak. Say the kid’s name within a three mile radius and Richie will be there.”

“Say _Eddie Spaghetti_ three times in front of a dark mirror and Richie appears.” Ben teased, shuffling the deck.

“And talks about him non-stop for three hours.” Beverly piped in and Richie laughed.

“I’d be offended but… I am not. Eddie is my favorite person, so. Why are we talking about him?”

“He knits.” Beverly said through a handful of popcorn that she had shoved in her mouth. Richie groaned.

“Ugh, how _cute_.” Richie gushed, smile going soft and eyes distant. And Mike couldn’t help but roll his eyes because honestly, _why_ wasn’t Eddie dating this guy? Mike loved Eddie, he was one of the best people he knew but… damn. _What_?

“Also, speaking of Eddie, he’s making Bill and I join his team for Gamma Nu’s Dare Game this weekend and we need three more people, if you guys wanna join.” Mike said, grabbing a handful of popcorn for himself and tossing some in his mouth.

“Oh, fuck yeah,” Bev said, “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

“It was Eddie’s idea?” Ben asked, finally tossing the cards down and looking up at Mike, “It doesn’t seem like his kind of thing.” Mike shrugged and nodded in agreement.

“It usually wouldn’t be but Henry Bowers, you guys know him?”

“Unfortunately.” Ben and Bev said at the same time.

“Hm, accurate. Yeah, he told Eddie that Eddie probably couldn’t handle the game because he is small and gay and Eddie obviously took that as a personal challenge and now we _have_ to do it. Because both he and Bill love to fight.”

“He has a lot of pride, that kid.” Ben mused, smiling fondly.

“You are not wrong.” Richie agreed, “He’s a beautiful disaster.” Mike watched him for a moment, considering, and then he just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Hey, I’m sorry if this is out of line but… _why_ aren’t you dating Eddie? You guys are both so obviously into each other.” Mike asked, curiosity getting the better of him. Richie sighed and smiled, surprisingly sincere.

“That’s all Eddie, man. I like him a lot, yeah, but I also don’t want to _pressure_ him into dating me. If fucking is all he wants, then I will give him that with gusto.”

“Ew.” Bev added, but she still stared at Richie with a soft smile and Mike got the feeling she had heard this before.

“Hmm. Just feels stupid. You guys are practically dating now just… without the formality? And the acceptance.” Mike mused and Richie glared at him.

“I… think it is a little more nuanced than that. And you’re one to talk about _ill-defined-relationships_ , Hanlon. Aren’t you… _something_ with Big Bill now?” Richie teased, an obvious swing at trying to switch the topic away from him, but Mike fell for it. Just like he fell for literally anything associated with Bill. He felt himself grinning, despite the smug look it earned from Richie.

“Maybe.” Mike allowed after a moment of silence and everyone in the room crowed.

“Oh my _God_! Since when?” Beverly gushed, smiling wide as she smacked Mike on the arm.

“Eddie told me they’ve been hooking up for about six months.” Richie added, winking at Mike obnoxiously.

“You’re hooking up with Bill?” Bev crowed, “Ugh, listen. I may be Ben-sexual but I would totally consider polyamory for a chance at Denbrough’s lips. Just his lips though.”

“Just his disembodied lips, Bev? That’s disgusting. That’s making me uncomfortable.”

“ _Beep beep_ , Richie. You know what I meant.” Bev grimaced and Mike laughed.

“I definitely know what you meant.” Mike added with a smirk.

“Ooooooh,” Ben sang from the ground and everyone turned to look at him, “I know that face. Mike is in _looooove_.”

“What?” Richie cut in, “How did you get from Mike implying he has fucked Bill’s mouth to him being in _love_?” Richie asked, confused and painfully crude. Mike was about to tell him to watch his mouth, but Ben just laughed.

“Oh Richie, _please_. You’re talking to the Most Romantic Person in our friend group, Beverly can attest to that. And I know that look. I’ve seen that look before. Hell, I’ve given that look before. I’ve written papers about that look.” Ben said, pointing in Mike’s general direction. Mike sat up straighter and looked around him.

“What look?”

“The face you made the second Richie said Bill’s name. The far-off look, the soft smile, the way you bit your lip like you didn’t wanna smile _too much_ but it didn’t stop your face from lighting up…”

“I don’t know if that’s what he did. That may be a little dramatic.” Richie interjected, looking confused.

“It was. It also happens to be the exact face you make when you see Eddie.” Ben answered smugly and Richie blanched.

“I am not IN LOVE with Kaspbrak!” he argued and everyone rolled their eyes collectively, “I’m not! Could I maybe… one day see myself in love with him? Yes, maybe. Is he a very cool person who I like to be around and argue with? Yes definitely. Does he have an amazing ass and skin that was kissed by the gods? One hundred percent. Does he make me happy every-”

“Oh yeah, you’re right, you’re totally convincing me that you are _not_ in love with him.” Ben deadpanned and Richie just fell back into the cushions with a pout, “Anyway, Mike. You love Bill?”

“I didn’t even know you guys were dating, and now you’re in love?” Bev teased. Mike just shrugged and smiled, thinking of the way Bill laughed and how he always called Mike first when he had a story to tell or how he stuck his tongue out when he was focusing or how he couldn’t fall asleep anymore without touching Mike and honestly, his list went on and on and on.

“Being with Bill… it’s like breathing. Kissing him the first time was the easiest and best thing I ever did.” Mike whispered. He felt the three of them staring at him, but he just stared down at his hands, struck suddenly by how happy he was.

“Wow. That’s gay as fuck, Mike.” Richie marveled and Bev immediately threw her yarn at him, making him yelp. Mike just laughed and stood up from the chair.

“Nah, it’d be gay as fuck if I said how pretty he cries for me when I rim him. ANYWAY, I’ll see you guys Friday night?”

“Yesss!”

“ _Fuck_. I love you Mike!”

“See you then!! Wait, what are we doing Friday?”


	2. Challenge Beginning

_You can do this, Bill. You’re brave, you’re hot, and you’re in love. You can say that out loud._ Bill thought to himself as his feet pounded the pavement and his breath heaved. The cold air made his lungs heavy, since he wasn’t used to running outside. Usually he went to the gym, but fresh air had sounded good after he’d been up all night, restless, because he couldn’t sleep.

Because _someone_ was making chicken parmigiana last night because he knew it was Bill’s favorite and he knew that Bill had a meeting with a particularly rude professor about his portfolio, so when he came back that night he was going to be upset. And he _just wanted to make Bill feel better, is all_. So how could Bill _not_ have realized, as Mike kissed his cheek, that he was totally absolutely in love with him.

And how scary was that?

“It shouldn’t be scary, you love him. He probably loves you. Just _tell him_.” Bill muttered, muscles aching as he stared at the damp grey sidewalk. The sun was just starting to rise and it painted the town in a soft light. Bill looked around to admire the glow it gave the town and-

“Oh.” Bill whispered, stopping sort of abruptly in front of a bakery he had always noticed in passing but never stopped in front of. This time he stopped though, because _he_ was there, the boy Bill had seen around school so often. The boy with porcelain skin and sharp cheekbones and soft eyes. The boy Bill had been waxing poetic about for _weeks_ but still couldn’t talk to, despite avid encouragement from Mike and Eddie and… everyone.

The boy was standing near the window, seemingly rolling out some dough that was just out of eyeshot. His sleeves were rolled up and he was smiling at something, talking to someone else in the shop, but his eyes were focused on the work in front of him. He seemed more at peace than any other time Bill had seen him and it made him smile too.

Bill instinctively imagined how nice it would be to be able to come up behind him, wrap his arms around his waist and ask him what he was doing, ask him to show him how to help. That would be nice… what would be even nicer? Seeing Mike do the same thing. Bill pictured his strong arms wrapping around the boy’s slim waist. They looked to be similar heights, so Mike wouldn’t have to lean down too far to rest his face in the crook of the boy’s neck, pressing a lingering kiss there that the boy would lean into, before he would look up and pull Bill close to them-

“Okay. You’re officially being creepy.” Bill muttered, shaking his arms out to clear that train of thought. He wasn’t allowed to have such _domestic_ fantasies until he at least knew the boy’s _name_. Bill took one last long look and he was about to leave when he realized again how beautiful of a scene was in front of him… the sunrise in the background of the bakery, the boy set alight by the soft glow of the bakery’s lights. Bill, not fighting his instincts, grabbed his phone off of his armband and snapped a shot, sending it to Richie and writing:

_Am I a photography major yet?_

He then clipped his phone back on, started the music again, and resumed running. And resumed thoughts about Mike, of course. Which is a given because he was always thinking about Mike. If he ran through a farmers’ market, he wondered if Mike would want him to grab a plum for him. If he saw two old ladies walking down the street, holding hands, he thought about how much they would _adore_ Mike. He saw a dog being walked, he immediately thought to Snapchat Mike. If he saw a cute boy in a window front, he thought about that boy kissing Mike.

It was reaching the level of a complex, how much he loved that guy.

Bill’s phone dinged and when he looked down it was a message from Richie.

  1. _A) Why r u awake wtf and B) that’s hot_



Bill laughed and slipped his phone back, not dignifying that with a response because, well, Richie was probably already back asleep. He was an early riser, but it was early even for Richie and he knew he’d had a long week of midterms.

And of _course_ , thinking of Richie made Bill think of Mike because _man_ was Bill thankful that his relationship with Mike was so easy. Yes, Bill was a little off-kilter about being in love, but that was nothing compared to the drama that was alive in Richie and Eddie. Those boys could be a damn soap opera. Bill kind of just wanted to lock them in a room together and demand that they confront their feelings, but Mike assured him that they were “adults” and needed to be “treated as such”.

Which sounded like bullshit to Bill but, he supposed he trusted Mike.

Bill made it back to his apartment just in time, the sun fully risen and the day officially started. Now he didn’t have to go lay in bed and pretend to sleep or start his day in a weird half-light. He bounced across the apartment, not yet pulling his headphones out and dancing slightly to the music, the endorphins from his run hitting him hard. He made his way to the shower, singing softly under his breath as he switched the water on, so that he didn’t notice someone coming up behind him until there were hands on his hips. He yelped and tugged his earphones out, turning around to see Mike laughing softly at him.

“Morning, baby. Got in an early run?” he asked, kissing him once before letting him reply. Bill felt himself smile and sink into his boyfriend’s embrace.

“Yeah, couldn’t sleep. Thought it’d clear my head.”

“Did it help?” Mike asked, as he took the phone from Bill and set it on the counter so he could start helping Bill undress. Bill shivered as Mike’s hands ran over his sides and he shook his head.

“I can’t remember at this exact moment.” Bill teased because Mike’s lips were against his neck now and his head was pretty empty of all but one thing.

“You wanna join?” Bill asked once he was fully undressed, tugging gently at Mike’s sleep pants. He never slept with a shirt on so Bill’s job was already half done.

“If you want me.”

“When do I ever _not_ want you?” Bill whispered, wrapping his arms around Mike’s neck and pulling him backwards into the shower with him.

Bill stepped into the stream of steaming water and sighed, arching into it gently as he felt the sweat and tension from his run wash off his body. His eyes were closed but he heard Mike groan and felt his hands tighten on Bill’s hips. Bill couldn’t help but grin because he loved the way Mike made him feel in moments like this, like he was sexy, _irresistible_ even.

With every other partner he’d been with in the past, Bill always felt insecure, like he was doing something wrong or wasn’t doing enough or was doing too much. He never felt that with Mike. It was always easy and comfortable and amazing with him.

“You’re fucking _perfect_.” Mike whispered and Bill shivered just at his voice, raspy and turned on. He groaned loudly though when Mike took him in his hand stroked, long and slow. Bill gripped the back of his neck tightly and pulled him in for a kiss, water streaming down their faces and making everything slick and warm. Mike pulled back, too soon in Bill’s opinion and rested their foreheads together, keeping up the slow movement of his hand.

“You know you can talk to me about anything, yeah?” Mike asked and Bill was a little thrown off by the sincerity, scrambling for a second to remember what he was talking about.

“Oh,” Bill breathed, “Yeah, Mike, I know.” And it would’ve been so easy, in that moment, to lean in, so their lips were against each other as he said it: _I’m in love with you_. _I can’t imagine my life without you. I love you so much I ache_.

But he didn’t, instead he let Mike push him against the wall and reattach himself to his neck. Instead he let himself get lost in Mike, his strong arms and soft lips and big hands.

“ _Mike_.” Bill moaned, leaning his head back against the tile and baring his neck for more of Mike’s tongue and lips.

“That’s my name, baby. Say it again.” Mike whispered, hoarse, right into Bill’s ear as his hand moved faster, squeezing a little tighter. Bill moaned and obliged, unable to stop until-

“I swear to _God_ , you guys better not be fucking in there!” Eddie’s voice rang out, and Bill groaned loudly, this time not nearly as sexy, “I have to meet my mom for breakfast in _thirty minutes_ and I need to shower! Hurry _up_!”

“We’ll be out in five!” Mike called back, not moving his face from where it had fallen to Bill’s shoulder in frustration. He looked up at Bill and laughed, shaking his head. “Stop pouting, handsome, let’s get you clean.” Bill didn’t stop pouting, but he did listen to Mike, letting him shampoo and condition his hair much-too-quickly wash his body.

“I hate Eddie.” Bill muttered as they stepped out of the shower together and he grabbed a towel, drying himself quickly before wrapping it around Mike. The boy just laughed and kissed his cheek.

“No you don’t.” Mike assured as he tied the towel around his waist. Bill grabbed Mike’s old pajamas off the floor and slid them up his hips before walking out of the bathroom. He stuck his tongue out at Eddie, who was standing outside the door and tapping his foot when they exited.

“Sometimes I do, the cockblock.” Bill said and Eddie just rolled his eyes.

“Fucking horn-dogs.” Eddie muttered before slamming the door behind him. Bill followed Mike into his room and admired the view as his boyfriend dropped the towel and moved to his closet, grabbing a pair of jeans off the dresser.

“Wait, we’re putting clothes _on_?” Bill whined and Mike laughed.

“Yeah, he kinda killed the mood, didn’t he?”

“I fucking _hate_ Eddie.” Bill grumbled, turning to leave and go find clothes in his own room but he didn’t get far before he felt his boyfriend’s arms wrap around him.

“I’ll make it up to you tonight, yeah? After we win the game?” Mike said, kissing his temple once before tucking his head in Bill’s neck. He always loved doing that, said he liked Bill’s soft skin and the way he was always so sensitive there.

“Fine, I guess I can wait.” Bill teased, leaning back into his embrace and grinning.

“Good.” Mike nipped the skin in front of him before moving back, “Go get dressed, baby. I’ll make us some breakfast.” 

“I want waffles!” Bill said from his room, which was right across the hall from Mike’s.

“Waffles it is. Anything for you, baby.” Mike’s voice carried and Bill felt himself smile again. Fuck, he really loved him.

###

 _Hey we’re outside!_ Richie texted Mike as he, Bev, and Ben pulled up outside his apartment. It was 6 o’clock, on the dot, which was exactly when Mike said to be there. Richie hated being late, which really didn’t sound like him, but he could acknowledge that even though time was an illusion, lateness was real and rude.

_Coming! By the way……. Eddie doesn’t know I invited you so sorry D:_

Richie felt his stomach drop and he made a broken noise audibly.

“What was that noise?” Bev asked, lifting her head of Ben’s shoulder and leaning in-between the divider to get closer to Richie.

“Um, apparently Mike didn’t tell Eddie who he invited. So, this… might be awkward.” Richie announced to Bev and Ben, who were sitting behind him in his Ford Explorer.

“What, why would that be awkward?” Ben asked.

“Because Eddie’s been avoiding him all week.” Bev answered brusquely and Richie winced. She wasn’t _wrong_. Eddie definitely had been avoiding his texts, barely talking to him, even when Richie showed up to the diner he worked at for lunch.

Mondays and Wednesdays Richie had a break in his classes from 12:00-3:00 so he would usually go to the 60’s themed diner that Eddie worked at those days and eat lunch there, keeping him company on his break and when it was slow. It was one of those things about their friendship that was _so_ _not_ a friend-thing, but Richie didn’t care. Eddie let him get away with it and it meant he got to see him smile and bitch at him on a regular basis which was really all he could ask for.

But of course he knew the whole time that eventually Eddie would realize it was too domestic and romantic and would take five hundred steps backwards in their relationship, which was exactly what happened this week. And Richie had been too fucking cowardly to say anything about it.

“ _What_?” Ben asked, shocked. Richie tried to ignore the pain that flared in his stomach and plastered on a smile.

“Its fine, Haystack. All good things must come to an end, right? Nothing stays gold. Every rose has its… thorn.” Richie trailed off to a whisper when he saw Eddie bounding down the stairs behind Bill and Mike. He looked fucking _adorable_ , like always. But it hit him harder now, because not only had Richie not seen him since Monday, when he gave Richie the coldest shoulder ever at the diner, but he also hadn’t seen him _smile_ since they’d hooked up last Thursday night.

Fuck, Richie really loved his smile, the way he showed all of his teeth and his nose and eyes crinkled so much, the way his cheeks rounded looked so _cute_.

“Wow, I hate his fucking face.” Is what Richie ended up saying out loud instead. Beverly just laughed and sat back against the seat, leaning into Ben.

The three walking up moved closer to the car and Richie honked so they would know which one to walk to. Bill and Mike looked over and waved and Eddie was about to do the same before he realized who exactly was driving. He immediately looked over at Mike and glared, but was civil enough not to say anything just yet.

“Eddie, take the front seat, Bill and I want the back.” Richie heard Mike say.

“Why so you can make out in another person’s car?” Eddie asked and Richie bit back a laugh at the sass.

“ _Maybe_.” Bill responded before opening the back seat and gently shoving Eddie towards the front, who climbed into the car as reservedly as someone can. He looked over at Richie and smiled politely.

“Hey, Rich.” _Really, the fucking nickname?_

“Hey, Eddie. Good to see you.” Richie said, proud of himself for being calm and normal for once in his life. Eddie just nodded and looked forward, buckling slowly. Richie started the car and drove in the direction of the quad and honestly, you could cut the tension with a knife.

“So, I’m sorry if I made things awkward,” Mike said from the back of the car, “I did _not_ know when I invited you guys that Eddie would be… weird-”

“Mike!” Eddie snapped, turning around to glare at his friend and Richie snorted a laugh.

“But honestly, I like hanging out with you guys and it would be awesome if we could all be adults and be friends and not let Reddie’s emotional constipation get in the way of a good night.”

“Reddie?” Richie asked, choosing to focus on the part of that sentence that didn’t make his heart ache.

“Oh, yes, that’s the ship name Bill and I came up with for you two.” Mike explained and Eddie groaned, putting his face in his hand.

“You guys are so embarrassing.”  

“Come on, Eds, there are more important things to worry about,” Bill added, “We need to _focus_ if we’re gonna kick Bowers’ ass, right Eddie?” Eddie worried at his lip for a moment and it took all of Richie’s will power not to stare at him instead of the road. After a long moment Eddie sighed and nodded.

“You’re right, Bill… _fuck_ I hate that guy.” Eddie swore, turning around in his seat to look at Bill.

“We _all_ do. And Mike told us what he said to you. Who gave him the right to talk to you like that?” Bev added and Richie laughed because he knew they were trying to rile Eds up and he also knew it was going to work like a charm.

“Honestly! He thinks he _knows_ me, he doesn’t know me.” Eddie emphasized.

“He doesn’t know you.” Mike agreed, “ _Nobody_ knows you, Eddie.”

“Not one person knows me but _me_.” Eddie was so fucking cute when he was riled up, seriously. Richie wanted to eat him up.

“Do _you_ even know you?” Richie asked and Eddie opened his mouth to respond and then thought for a moment.

“Actually, that isn’t a door I wanna open right now.” Eddie responded and when everyone else laughed he smiled. He smiled right at Richie and Richie wanted to crow.

“So we’re gonna be okay?” Richie asked him softly, once everyone in the backseat was talking amongst themselves and no longer listening. Eddie looked at him sadly and nodded.

“I think so.” He whispered back.

“For tonight at least?” Richie asked with a laugh and Eddie grimaced.

“I’m sorry, Rich, it’s just-”

“Hey, look at that, we’re here.” Richie cut him off as he pulled into a parking spot next to the quad. Because Richie was a coward. And he knew what Eddie was going to say, that he was pulling back from their relationship because they both needed to be less attached. Eddie had enough of Richie and he did not need to hear that said out loud, especially not in a car full of his friends.

###

“So, you’re my least favorite person in the world right now, how does that feel?” Eddie asked, voice dripping with fake sweetness. He grabbed Mike’s arm and pulled back behind the group, who was walking towards the sign-up table.

“I’m sorry! Hey, I’m not the one who told you to be a child and ghost the poor boy for a week.” Mike snapped, louder than Eddie really wanted. He looked over at Richie quickly, but he didn’t seem to notice, engrossed in a conversation with Bill.

“I didn’t… _ghost_ him. I just… didn’t have sex with him. Or talk to him as much. Or text him back… okay I might’ve ghosted him. Fuck, I’m a bad person.”

“You’re not a bad person. You’re just bad at confronting your emotions and I think you’ve felt more emotions for Richie than you have for anyone else in the past and that scares you.” Mike explained casually and Eddie couldn’t stop the glare.

“Thanks Dr. Phil, I feel a lot better now.”

“Just _talk_ to him, Ed. Not tonight, tonight you should just have fun but… soon. Talk to him. It’s only fair.” Mike said gently. Eddie groaned and ran his fingers through his curls.

“I know. I know! It’s just… I know if I try to talk to him, if I look at him and try to tell him we should take a break, I won’t be able to. It’s his stupid face and his pretty eyes. I just… when he’s in front of me, all I want is to be with him.” Eddie trailed off to a whisper and looked down at his feet. He felt Mike’s hand grip his arm tighter.

“Ed, maybe that means-”

“I don’t want to think about what that means. Not yet. I know I’m being a coward Mike but just give me time… I’ll try to be better.” Eddie said with an air of finality, staring at where Richie was at the sign-up table with Bev. Bev was making some joke as they filled out the paper and Richie tossed his head back laughing and Eddie’s stupid heart swelled.

“Okay Eddie, whatever you say.” Mike kissed his temple and pulled away from him, moving to the table with the rest of their friends.

“Hey, Eds, come on, you gotta write your name and phone number.” Richie called to him, gesturing for him to come over. Eddie took a deep breath and made his way over there. “I’d write it down for you but I’m not sure the number that I have is right? I haven’t been getting responses lately so…” Richie teased and Eddie just blushed, literally having no idea how to respond to getting called out.

“Just kidding, Eds. Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry… that you still think it’s okay to call me that.” Eddie said, snatching the pen from Richie’s hand and filling out the form himself. Richie laughed and the tense moment he’d created seem to retreat some, though Eddie could still feel it lingering in the air.

He’d need to talk to him soon, it really was only fair.

Once they’d filled everything out and put down all their numbers, the guy at the table filled them in on the rules. The dares would be sent to a group chat with all of their numbers and they would have to send video proof back once the activity was completed. They’d have to complete ten and whoever finished first would win.

(They were so gonna win.)

Ben was the first one to get a dare, which was absolutely fitting because of course they’d start with the nicest one. They said they were assigning the dares randomly, pulling them out of a jar as each person texted in, but Eddie had a gut feeling that wasn’t necessarily one hundred percent true, but maybe that was just his cynicism.

“Ben the first one is for you!” Bev read, “You have to drive to a Baskin Robbins and taste at least ten flavors and then not buy anything.” Ben’s face looked ashen as they tugged him to the car, in a hurry to get going.

“I CANNOT do that!” Ben protested, “That is so rude, oh my _God_.” He put his face in his hands and Beverly threw her arms around his shoulders comfortingly.

“It’s okay! It won’t be that bad, I’m sure it happens to them all the time.”

“That does not make me feel better.” Ben groaned again and Eddie bit his fingernail as he watched everyone try to comfort him in the backseat.

“It is kind of fucked up, Ben is like… the only one in our group who would hate this.” Eddie whispered to Richie, since they were sitting next to each other again, Eddie still being exiled to the front seat.

“Honestly, this dare would be easy as fuck for me. I actually… have done it before. Un-ironically.” Richie admitted.

“Of course you have, you hooligan.” Eddie teased, shaking his head. Richie just shrugged and smiled that smile that Eddie had come to know meant he was about to say something self-deprecating. Or something sad.

“Well, when you’re a kid and your parents don’t care enough to ever buy you ice cream you’ll go to extreme measures. I usually only did it on my birthdays.” Richie explained and Eddie was quiet for a moment.

“They… would forget your birthday?” Eddie asked softly. Richie nodded and kept his eyes focused on the road ahead of him.

“Pretty much every year.” He answered and Eddie felt a pang in his stomach, a sudden urge to soothe every ache Richie had ever felt.

“Well, I can sympathize with the ice cream part. My mom _never_ let me have sweets, ever. One birthday, she filled my piñata with multi-vitamins.”

“No she did not.” Richie laughed but Eddie just nodded and felt himself smile too.

“She _absolutely_ did.” Eddie insisted, “And they were in little plastic baggies so that they didn’t touch the floor.”  

“That’s fucking hilarious,” Richie barked, finally turning to smile at Eddie, “Awful and embarrassing, but at least she loves you.”

“Yeah. She does.”

Eddie wanted to ask Richie about his parents, he wanted to know why they would forget so much about their son. He wanted to know how he felt, how he got through it, who he went to when he was sad. He wanted to know everything and he wanted to help where he could, but for some reason, the words caught in his throat. Because asking would mean admitting that he cared and admitting that he cared was giving _so_ much power to Richie. And that was too scary.

Eddie was suddenly struck by how much of his thoughts were starting to become a list of reasons why he was afraid to do things.

“I can’t do this.” Ben stated, once they were parked outside the store. Only he and Bev were going to go inside, because if they went in as a crowd it would be a little obvious it was a dare.

“Babe, I’m sorry but we _really_ don’t have time for you to debate this.” Bev said, as a sort of encouragement. Ben groaned loudly but threw the door open anyway and stormed towards the store.

“You think he’ll pull it off?” Bill asked, hopping over the seats so he could stare out the window without Mike in the way.

“Oh yeah,” Mike chimed in, “He’s a closer. It’ll kill him inside and he’ll probably end up leaving a huge tip, but he’ll do it. For the group.” Everyone nodded in agreement and watched the scene before them.

It was pretty cute, actually, Ben nervously pointing out flavors and then eating them and turning around to stare at Bev guiltily. Once it was over, Mike was totally right, Ben shoved some cash in the tip jar and then made big gestures that Eddie assumed meant he had to go before grabbing Bev’s hand and running out as fast as he could.

Bev was laughing hysterically when they tumbled back into the car, climbing in over Bill. Ben was laughing too but groaning predominantly.

“That was SO AWKWARD, Richie, please get me the fuck out of here.” Ben begged, clutching Richie’s shoulders and shaking him a little.

“Oh my _gosh_ , she didn’t even care! You should’ve seen it guys, he kept apologizing and saying how yummy all the ice cream was and it was _so sweet_. You did amazing, Ben.” Beverly leaned over to kiss Ben’s blushing cheek and boy sighed in relief.

“I’m just glad that’s over. Who’s next?” Ben asked and right as he did all of their phones dinged with the next dare.

“Bev and Bill!” Eddie announced.

“What do they have to do?” Richie asked, unable to check his phone. He leaned over to look at Eddie’s screen but Eddie just put a finger on his temple and pushed him back facing forward.

“Eyes on the road, Trashmouth.” Eddie scolded.

“They have to tag Starlight Diner.” Mike told him and Eddie felt a twinge of guilt because he probably shouldn’t encourage the vandalism of his place of work, but… there are no rules in love and war, right?

“Fuck. I don’t know how to art!” Bev groaned and Bill laughed.

“I’ll tell you exactly what to do Bev, don’t worry. But do we need to go buy spray paint?” Bill asked and Richie made a noise of protest.

“I think I have some?” he reached back and felt around for a moment before pointing to Mike, “Check under your seat, Hanlon, I think there should be some there.”

“What the fuck, Tozier,” Mike exclaimed when he held up the three cans of paint, “Why do you have spray paint in your car?” Richie just shrugged.

“I dunno. Who cares? It’s kismet.” Richie announced, bringing his hands to his lips and doing that kissy thingy with the loud smacking noise. Eddie scrunched up his face in confusion.

“It’s _what_?” Eddie asked as Richie parked the car. The boy turned to look at him like he was crazy.

“Um, kismet? Like fate?” When Eddie’s expression still didn’t change Richie looked around him for support, “It’s a very popular saying, right guys?” He got some murmured agreement as everyone climbed out of the car but Eddie wasn’t buying it.

“Is this one of those times where you try to take advantage of me being gullible? Because I think this is a made up thing.”

“It is not made up! It is a very real saying!” Richie argued, throwing his hands in the air. Richie loved talking with his hands, Eddie had noticed. He liked to take up as much space with his words as he possibly could, had to do everything he could to grab the attention.

Attention that apparently Eddie was always ready to give over willingly.

“Whatever you say, Rich.” Eddie teased, knowing his smile was smug but not caring anyway.

“Oh fuck you,” Richie nagged, “You KNOW I hate when people say that to me, I know you know that! It is so placating!”

“Do I know that? I’m not sure… but whatever you say, Rich.”

“You _asshole_.” Richie groaned, shoving Eddie gently on the shoulder and Eddie laughed and shoved back, “You’re just like your mom, always giving me lip.” Richie threw his arm around Eddie’s shoulder and tugged him close, Eddie playfully pushing him back all the while.

“ _Eddie_!” Mike called, snapping Eddie out of his conversation, “You wanna come help me be lookout?”

“Oh, sure.” Eddie called back, moving over to where Mike was standing by the entry to the alleyway and preparing himself for a lecture. “So… what’s up, dad?”

“You are _totally_ flirting with him.” Mike said, skipping any preamble apparently.

“I am _so not_.” Eddie was already done with this conversation.

“You are! You’re practically batting your eyelashes at him, you’re that obvious.” Mike teased and Eddie scoffed on instinct. He would never bat his eyelashes… he wasn’t the one with perfectly long eyelashes naturally like fucking Richie.

“We’re just being friends, that’s how friends talk.” Eddie insisted.

“Okay. Sure… _Whatever you say_ , Eds.” Mike changed his voice in his impression of Eddie and he just glared.

“I do not sound like that.” He had to object, even though he knew he was being petulant.

“You do when you’re flirting with Richie.” Of course Mike was petulant right back.

“I actually hate you.”

“Hey, boys! We’re done here, if you guys want to come back and stop pretending to keep watch so that you can bicker at each other.” Bill called out, gesturing for them to come back. Mike just flipped him off and tugged Eddie to follow him back.

“That was fast,” Eddie commented as he walked over, “What did you make- _oh my gosh_ , is that an S.S. Georgie?” Eddie asked, taking in the small yellow boat over a puddle of water that they had painted onto the wall, B&B written into the corner in Bev’s writing.

“Yeah, I thought it would be easy.” Bill said nonchalantly and Eddie cooed.

“Aww you’re such a _sap_! I’m snapchatting this to Georgie right now, stand next to it!” Eddie pulled out his phone and felt Mike come up behind him to watch.

“Who is Georgie?” Richie asked from where he was sitting on the hood of his car, watching.

“The purest, sweetest boy in the world.” Eddie responded.

“Is he a… dog?” Ben asked suspiciously, making Mike and Bill laugh.

“He’s Bill’s little brother.” Eddie explained as they all walked back to load into the car, “And he’s an actual angel.”

“I used to make those boats for him when it rained. He loved chasing them down the stream.” Bill explained, a fond look gracing his features.

Honestly, Eddie wasn’t sure how everyone in the whole world wasn’t in love with Bill. He was handsome as fuck, smart, genuine, and he loved with all of his heart. Eddie had never seen a sweeter moment than last summer when he drove home to Derry with Bill and saw him reunite with Georgie, the two of them hugging and crying like they were still little kids. Georgie may have been a teenager but he never seemed to go through the phase where liking your older brother wasn’t cool. It was so fucking adorable.

“Okay, so where are we going next?”

“Oh fuck, I think we have to split up.” Ben said, looking up from his phone with wide eyes.

“Why do you think that?” Bev asked, leaning over his shoulder to read the text.

“Well, it says we need to split up.” Ben explained and Beverly rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, babe, that’s probably what that means, then.”

It ended up being Richie, Ben, and Bev were being sent to a karaoke bar downtown and Mike, Eddie, and Bill had to go to the Promenade Mall. The dares would be assigned once they got there.

“You’re sure you’re okay with me driving your car?” Mike asked Richie when they dropped them off.

“Duh, of course, Mikey! I trust you. We’ll just Uber to wherever the meet up is and it’ll be fine. We’ll see you guys soon, yeah?” Richie tapped the hood of the car as he got out and waved goodbye.

“Let’s go Team Tozier!” he heard Richie call out, followed by the immediate protests of Ben and Bev.

Eddie felt a pang in his stomach again as he heard them all laugh together. He knew he shouldn’t, he should’ve been happy they split up. Less distractions, more chances of winning.

But who was he kidding, he was going to miss Richie. Why did Mike always have to be right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading... (Stan is glimpsed. He will arrive more fully next chapter, I promise)


	3. Challenge Continuing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> STAN! IS! HERE!

_Ben has to fake-propose to Beverly in a very public way_.

“Everyone! Excuse me! Excuse me, can I have everyone’s attention?” Ben spoke into microphone. Bev smiled widely because even when he was being demanding and a little impulsive he was still the kindest man she knew. Everyone in the bar turned to look at the little make-shift karaoke stage where Ben was standing.

“Um, I know I’m supposed to be using this microphone to… sing for you, but if you’ll bear with me, I’d like to do something a little bit different,” he said. People started whispering suspiciously and a little nervously but Ben just had eyes for Beverly and he smiled at her softly, gesturing for her to come up on stage, “Beverly Marsh, would you join me up here?”

Beverly let herself gasp, falling into the theatrics that she knew should accompany this dare. If this was real life, well… this would never be real life. Ben knows Beverly hates stuff like this, hates other people knowing her business. But, this was all fake, so she was going to have her fun.

 _Me?_ She mouthed and Ben nodded and waved her up more dramatically. She jumped out of her stool, turning her head to Richie like she had no idea what was going on and moved towards the stage. Ben extended a hand to help her up and didn’t let it go after. His palms were sweaty but his eyes were shining, wide and loving. The spotlight illuminated the side of his face, making his scruffy beard look almost golden and Beverly wanted to kiss him so badly, so she did.

She used to hardly ever do what she wanted, before she met Ben. She was always so afraid of what other people would think, afraid of getting hurt. But now that she was older, now that she’d realized that people were going to judge her no matter what she did, all she could focus on were the people that loved her and the people she loved. And so when she wanted to do something she did it. And she knew Ben would always be there for her.

Ben kissed her back for a short moment and then pulled back and took a deep breath before turning to the crowd.

“So, I met Bev in the eighth grade. I was the new kid in school and she sat in front of me in my social studies class and she was… the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. She still is, but back then… _whoa_. She was so much cooler than me.” Ben emphasized, laughing, and everyone laughed with him but Beverly, who hit his shoulder and shook her head.

“I was not.” She insisted and Ben just titled his head and stared.

“Um, yes you were. She was this fiery goddess and I was just this chubby shy kid who spent a lot of time in the library and never left my own head. And let me tell you, Beverly and I, we had a _lot_ of conversations… in my head. In my mind, I was suave and witty and I just swept her off her feet, everybody. And then one day, in reality, you bumped in to me behind school and you spoke to me and you were so much more than anything I could have ever come up with in my head. For the first time, you helped me see that reality can be better than dreams.

“And it is…  Just knowing that I get to make you smile and hear about your day and your feelings and I get to _know_ you and love you… that is better than any daydream.” Ben stated simply and Bev... well this moment had really gotten away from Bev. She felt tears prick the sides of her eyes and warmth seep through her belly. Ben was staring at her with so much _love,_ it felt like way more than she could ever deserve.

“It took me a little while to ask her out, admittedly,” Ben continued, not looking away from Bev, “It wasn’t until junior prom that I told her how I felt about her, even though I’m _sure_ she already knew.” Bev turned to the crowd and nodded as she wiped away a stray tear, “So we started dating then and we went to college together and the first place we went on a date in _this_ town was this exact bar. It wasn’t a huge deal, really. It was just another date, but it was our first one out of our _awful_ hometown, our first one where we were really _free_ together. And at one point, we were sitting sort of by the window over there, and she looked up from her menu and pointed behind me and yelled because she saw a puppy. And she was so excited and beautiful and she genuinely wanted me to look because the dog was _so cute_ , but I couldn’t look away from her. And then she got mad at me because I missed the dog by the time I turned around but, I still knew in that moment that I was going to marry her. There is no one else I want to spend the rest of my life with. Because you have been through so much shit in your life Bev and you still care so much about everyone and everything and you give so much and take so little and… I love you. I love you so much, so, will you marry me?” Ben asked, popping down to one knee and it was only a little in jest that Beverly threw her hands over her mouth. Ben handed her a ring that Beverly had given him off her finger earlier, and she nodded wildly and both of them knew, staring at each other in that moment, that this would be real one day.

Not right then, of course, not with everyone watching and drunk people cooing, but soon. Bev was so sure she was going to marry Ben, with his kind eyes and his sweet words and his steadfast friendship.

The bar around them was exploding in applause and Bev could distinctly hear Richie’s voice loudest above them all, but she barely listened, just tucked her face into Ben’s neck and hugged him tightly.

###

Ben felt like he was probably never going to stop smiling, especially with Bev’s hand a constant pressure against his. He didn’t really know what the fuck he was going to say when he jumped on stage, but he usually did his best work when he spoke from the heart. So that was what he did and… fuck, his heart really was gay for Bev.

Of course he had been thinking those things for a long time, and of course he had thought about proposing to Beverly, but he was not expecting to tell her all of those things in that moment. He actually did have a ring in his pocket. His mom had given it to him as a going away present when they had moved out of Derry all those years ago and Ben just… brought it with him everywhere, waiting for a moment to come where he would give it to her.

That moment wasn’t right, of course, Beverly would’ve hated that, in front of all of those strangers and completely caught off-guard. No, it wasn’t right. But he had a feeling, after seeing her smile at him and say fake-yes that it was going to be soon.

“Okay, I’ve signed up and bribed the dude so I’m up next.” Richie said, sliding into the seat across from the two of them.

“I don’t think this dare is all that fair. I mean… you would do this even without the dare. This is just a regular Thursday night.” Bev said, but the tease kind of fell short because she was still grinning. Which meant Ben was still grinning and obviously Richie was still grinning because he may put up a “tough” front, but Ben knew his favorite thing was when his friends were happy.

“Honestly, you’re right. I have done this many times before.” Richie said as he took a big gulp of his beer. “Get ready for some magic, kids.” The DJ called out Richie’s name and the boy bounded up on stage.

“Hello all! This next song is dedicated to my best friends, the newly engaged happy couple.” Richie winked them and Beverly whooped loudly. Ben held up the camera to record.

 _Ohh you know you love me. I know you care. Just shout whenever, and I’ll be there_.

“Wow, he’s good. How did I not know he was good at this?” Ben whispered to Bev. She just nodded and laughed.

“Because you never come to karaoke with us, Benny.” Bev said, kissing him on the cheek.

“That is because if I came you would make me sing and then we would get kicked out of the bar.”

“You are not that bad.”

“I am, I so _so_ am.” Ben insisted and Beverly just laughed.

“But it would be so cute if we sang Summer Lovin together!” Beverly begged and Ben just scoffed because _please_. He loved Danny Zuko and they both know he could never do him justice.

“That is so cliché. We would never.”

“What about Baby It’s Cold Outside?”

“ _No._ ”

“A Whole New World?”

“That’s… more likely. But still _no_.” Ben promised. Bev sighed dejectedly and pouted but turned to watch Richie sing. Ben thought that was the end of their conversation, but then Ben felt her stare at him for a long moment. He found himself reluctantly looking away from Richie (who was putting on a great show), “Hey… thank you for what you said earlier. Did you mean it?” she asked, squeezing his hand a little tighter.

“Of course, Bev. I meant every word.”

“Even the last ones?” Bev asked with wide eyes and Ben nodded.

“Even the last ones.” Ben whispered.

“Me too.” Bev beamed. Ben slid his hand out of Bev’s and slipped it into his pocket, gripping onto the velvet box. He was going to give it to her, he was, but then-

“Woo!” Richie screamed, bouncing over to their table, “How’d I do, guys?”   

“ _Amazing_!” Ben admitted, only internally mourning the moment that Richie just brutally stole from him, “I think Eddie’s really going to like that video.” Richie actually lit up at that.

“Oh! _Shit_ , did he send his in? Running naked through the mall?” Richie begged, desperately fishing his phone out of his pocket.

“Yesss he did. You _gotta_ watch, it’s amazing.”

###

“Run! Run run run run run!!” Eddie yelled, socks skidding on the tile floor of the mall as he turned the corner out of the Old Navy, Bill and Mike’s laughter echoing behind him. He didn’t slow down though, even though absolutely no one was following them. He had a pretty big knack for the dramatic.

After they’d gotten to the mall, they all got a text saying it was Eddie’s dare. Much to text-Richie’s delight, he had to walk into the Old Navy’s changing room with a bunch of clothes and then leave said dressing room with No. Clothes. On.

Which 1) meant he had to leave the clothes he was wearing in the Old Navy which just wasn’t fair because Bill personally liked Eddie’s shirt, it was a good color on him and 2) Eddie would have to walk around the mall in nothing but his boxer briefs which was _probably_ Eddie’s worst nightmare. He wasn’t a prude or anything, but Bill knew he definitely didn’t like feeling vulnerable and walking around naked was _kind of_ putting him in a vulnerable position.

And on top of that, Eddie apparently knew the girl who was working the cash register, she waved to him and Mike when they walked in, and right as he was walking out, half-naked, she called after him. She was all “Um, Eddie, I think you forgot your clothes?” and Eddie just _panicked_ and ran. He ran down at least 8 stores before ducking into a hallway

“I can’t believe I _did_ that, I think I’m hyperventilating.” Eddie panicked as he slid against the wall. Bill leaned into Mike as he clutched his stomach laughing. “Stop laughing!” Eddie snapped, hitting Bill on the shoulder and trying to glare before giving in as well.

“You did _so_ well,” Bill panted, looking down at his phone to re-watch the video, “I mean I know you just had to walk out of a store, but you did it really well. It was probably the best thing I’ve ever seen.”

“I absolutely agree… Let’s watch the video again.” Mike said, crowding over Bill’s shoulder to see the phone, but Eddie snatched it out of his hand before they could start it again.

“Stop that! Please give me your hoodie, Mike. I can’t walk around like this. I’ll get arrested.” Eddie begged and Mike smiled and relented, unzipping his red sweatshirt and throwing it around Eddie’s shoulders. It was pretty adorable how much it drowned him. “Let’s just keep moving with the dares. Let’s take advantage of this adrenaline and keep it moving.”

Eddie zoomed ahead of them and looked down at his phone when it chimed.

“Bill, _baby_!” Mike announced as the text came in, tossing Bill’s phone to Eddie, “It’s for you. Eddie, start filming now.”

“Yessir!” Eddie said, pointing the camera and Bill and Mike. Bill fidgeted with the sleeve of his shirt nervously, trying to ignore the heavy feeling in his stomach.

“Hit m-m-me with it, Mike.” Well, there goes his plan of pretending he wasn’t nervous.

“You have to… kiss a stranger.” Mike laughed and Bill’s eyes went wide. Mike raised his eyebrows at him, and the dare _there_ was even more of a push to Bill than the text. He scanned the faces around him, doing a slow 360 turn. He stopped with his back to the camera and felt his stomach drop to his toes.

It was _him_. The boy who looked like he had a face that was carved from fucking marble and hair that was probably softer than silk. He also always looked like he was _getting shit done_ and anyone who got in his way would… probably die. Definitely at least get their ass handed to them.

Bill had been making secret plans in his head to go into that bakery someday and talk to him there but… this could work.

“Hi,” Bill managed, stepping in front of the boy as he neared them. He stopped just short enough, almost running into Bill abruptly. The boy looked up at him with surprised eyes but his eyes softened as he took in Bill’s face. And he’s not going to lie, that fueled his ego a little bit. It was also exciting knowing that Mike was watching, it made a heat and determination settle low in his belly.

“Hi.” He replied with a small smile and his voice was a lot deeper than Bill expected.

“I’m Bill.” He introduced himself, putting his hand out for the boy to shake.

“Stan.” He offered, taking Bill’s hand. And maybe that was what pushed him over the edge, the soft skin of Stan’s hand, or maybe it was the sly, intrigued look in Stan’s eyes or maybe it was the fucking _dimples_ that appeared when he smiled, but no matter what it was, _something_ gave Bill the courage to pull on Stan’s hand and tug him in closer. Stan gasped and looked down at the hand that Bill had placed on his hip.

“This is going to sound weird, but we’re doing this game of Dare and… I really want to kiss you, can I kiss you?” Bill whispered and Stan’s pink lips dropped open in surprise, and it wasn’t really consent, but he didn’t pull back _and_ he had to do the dare _and_ Eddie was filming, so Bill leaned in slowly.

And Stan met him halfway, fitting their lips together and pulling Bill close with a hand on his neck. Bill had to fight back a moan because w _hat the fuck that was so hot_.

Bill, when he got the dare, had expected it to be a short kiss. He was going to keep it chaste and then pull back, not wanting to force himself on anyone any more than was polite. But Stan obviously did not have the same qualms, because the hand that was on Bill’s neck had moved to tug on the hair at the base of his neck while simultaneously keeping him close.

“Wow, guys? As hot as this is,” Mike cut in, voice strangled, “I think it’s been enough to satisfy the dare.”  Bill smiled against Stan’s lips but pressed one more lingering kiss before pulling back, knees going weak at the way Stan’s chased after him for a moment before opening his eyes and looking up at him shyly.

“That was… unexpected.” Stan said, voice hoarse as he released Bill and stepped back a little. Bill may have resisted the urge to pull him back in, but he clearly couldn’t resist staring at Stan’s slightly swollen lips which were still slick with _Bill’s_ spit.

_Fuck._

“Nice, though, r-r-ight?” Bill s _tuttered_ he was so nervous, but Stan just smiled and nodded.

“Oh _shit_.” Mike said, looking down at his phone and then up at Bill with a grin.

“What?” Bill asked, his stomach dropping, “Did the video not come out? It sent, right?”

“If not, I’m willing to do it again.” Stan offered with a shrug, making Bill blush and Mike laugh.

“Uh, no. But you got one more dare, Billy.” Eddie explained, grabbing the phone from Mike and handing it to Bill.

_Get the stranger to join your team._

Bill looked up from the text and over to Stan, who read it over his shoulder. Bill raised one eyebrow and shrugged in question.

“You wanna join?” Bill asked, trying not to sound too excited.

“Honestly, I don’t really know what’s going on, but if you’re going, I’ll go too.” Stan said, smiling up at Bill and blushing a little. “Um, just one question… why isn’t that guy wearing any pants?”

###

Stan had no fucking idea what he was doing. He was kind of still reeling from kissing Perfect-Face-Bill. Easy to say, making out with the hottest guy he’d ever seen was not what he had been expecting when he went to the mall to pick up some errands for his mom, but he was _not_ complaining.

“So where are we going now?” Stan asked, as he climbed into Mike’s car.  

“We have to meet up with the rest of our group, it said to meet them at the quarry.” Eddie answered, “We split up when we had to go to the mall and they had to go a bar downtown.”

“How many others are there?” Stan asked, suddenly kind of nervous that this was some kind of cult thing. He thought maybe he read about something like that, but honestly, everyone in the car was really attractive so he just kept telling himself that there were probably worse ways to go.

“Just three,” Bill assured him, “You’ll like them, I promise.” He smiled at him shyly and Stan honestly? Really truthfully? He just wanted to kiss that stupid grin off his perfect face. Stan really wasn’t even that much of a flirt _that often_ , but something about the “ _aw shucks” good boy_ appearance that Bill had drove Stan kind of crazy.

“Yeah, Richie’s a little much to handle, but everyone else is pretty great.” Eddie added, not looking up as he messed with his phone. Mike looked over at him and Stan didn’t even know him that well, but he knew that expression was pure _sass_. Stan could fall in love with a look like that.

“Oh, of course, we all know how much you _hate_ Richie, Ed.” Mike said sarcastically.

“What’s that supposed to mean? If you have something to say, just say it.” Eddie snapped with a glare at Mike.

“Oh you know I’ll say it, Eds.” Mike laughed and Eddie groaned.

“Hey, um thanks again for doing this. For coming with us. It was really cool and we would’ve been fucked without you.” Bill said, pulling Stan’s attention away from the two bickering in the front seat.

“You’re welcome. I mean, truthfully there is a significant portion of me that thinks this might be a huge mistake but…” Stan trailed off and groaned because Bill was just _smiling_ at him.

“But what?” he asked, looking confused and endearing.

“But then you smile at me and I’m like, literally what else matters, you know?” Stan admitted, rolling his eyes. His pride was taking a serious hit, but Bill just laughed and looked ecstatic.

“My smile? That’s what pulled you in? It wasn’t the… the _kiss_?” Bill teased, leaning in a little closer towards Stan.

“Well, they both go hand in hand,” Stan explained, “I see you smile and I stare at your lips and I think about how hot it was to kiss you.” He shrugged and Bill laughed loudly. 

“You are _not_ at all what I thought you would be.” Bill muttered, staring at Stan with wide eyes.

“What does that mean?” Stan asked.

“Well, every other time I’ve seen you-”

“You’ve seen me other times?” Stan cut him off because _what_? They’d never met, Stan would definitely remember that. Maybe he’d come into the bakery before? But no… Stan is so sure he would’ve remembered those shoulders (and those _lips_ , damn). Bill looked a little nervous now.

“Oh, um. Yeah, I have definitely seen you around town… a few times.”

“ _What_? Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“Uggh, I don’t know, Stan, you are intimidatingly pretty! And you always looked so determined, I never wanted to get in your way.” Bill whined. Stan felt his mouth drop open in a grin, totally not feeling bad about being smug.

“What an _excuse_. You were scared of me?” Stan teased and Bill groaned.

“Yeah, yeah, I was.” Bill admitted leaning back into his seat and no, that wasn’t what Stan wanted. Stan grabbed his hand and pulled him back so they were both leaning over the divider between them and he kissed him again.

“So what changed?” he asked when he pulled back, admiring Bill’s dazed expression.

“Hmm?”

“What made me less intimidating tonight?”

“Honestly? It was the shirt.”

“The shirt?”

“Yeah, you’re usually in button-ups. The V-neck is making you look way cuddlier.” Bill insisted and Stan laughed.

“I’m never cuddly, that would ruin my _scary_ reputation.”

“Hm, well, I call it like I see it.” Bill teased and he looked away from Stan for a moment and his eyes caught on something in front of him and his cheeks flushed red. Stan turned his head quickly, trying to find what had stolen Bill’s attention and he saw Mike’s reflection in the rear-view mirror. The boy noticed him looking and shifted his gaze to Stan, winking once before looking back to the road. Stan felt his stomach flutter at the heat in his gaze that lingered even after he looked away.

 _What was that?_ Stan thought, his eyebrows furrowing as he turned back to Bill, who was back to staring at Stan again.

“Wait… are you two-” Stan whispered, before being cut-off by Eddie.

“Richie texted me, they’re at the quarry already. Drive faster, Mike!”

“I am driving the speed limit, boy, we will get to your boyfriend when we get to him.”

“Oh my _God_ , he is not my boyfriend. What is up with you people’s OBSESSION with me and Richie?”

“Who is Richie again?” Stan asked, struggling to keep up with everything that was going on. These people were quite a whirlwind.

“Eddie’s boyfriend.” Mike and Bill said at the same time, to Eddie’s immediate protest and Stan’s laughter.

“Shut _up_!” Eddie snapped, “Y’all need to mind your own damn business!” And then he actually crossed his arms and stared out the window, pouting.

“Okay, I know this is probably a big deal and very important to you, Eddie, and I don’t really know you that well but… fuck, you’re really cute.” Stan said, patting Eddie’s shoulder and making Bill guffaw.

“Oh… thanks Stan, I think.”

“That Richie’s one lucky guy.”

“Oh for _fucks_ sake.”

###

“WHY ISN’T EDDIE WEARING ANY PANTS?” someone yelled out the second they all climbed out of the car. Eddie groaned loudly.

“This game may be fucking me over the hardest.” Eddie admitted, running his hands over his face, pretending his stomach didn’t warm as he felt Richie’s arm sling over his shoulder.

“Aww, I can fuck you harder, cutie.” He whispered in his ear and Eddie groaned and shoved him off. Richie just laughed before looking down and glaring at his sweatshirt.

“Is that Mike’s jacket?” Richie asked and Eddie looked up at him suspiciously, pinching the fabric between his fingers.

“Yeah, I didn’t want to walk around half naked.” Eddie snarked and Richie just stared for a long moment before looking up finally. _Was he jealous?_

“Wait a minute, who’s the baby face?” Richie asked suddenly, looking over at where Bill and Stan were standing. On another, Richie-separate note, Eddie was _very_ interested in whatever vibe those two were sending because Bill was fucking Mike, Eddie knew that. Well, more accurately probably Mike was fucking Bill but the point still stands that Bill really looked like he wanted Stan too… and Mike didn’t look unhappy about that and that was pretty hot. Eddie Shipped It.

“Exc _use_ me?” Stan asked and woo, there was that sass. Eddie liked him a lot.

“What? It’s a compliment. You got a nice face.” Richie insisted, throwing an arm around Eddie’s shoulders as he gestured at Stan.

“His name is Stan,” Mike explained, walking in between him and Bill and throwing his arms around both of their shoulders, echoing Richie’s move with Eddie, “He’s a part of our team now, so play nice.”

Stan looked up at Mike with an amused and slightly confused smile but he tentatively wrapped an arm around him as well.

“Are we going to the quarry or not? We have to send them a selfie of all of us together there before they send us the dare.” Beverly said from where she was wrapped around Ben, who was carrying her piggyback style.

“Yeah, let’s walk over now, you slow pokes.” Ben complained, bouncing on the balls of his feet and making Beverly laugh.

“Okay, why are they so hyped?” Bill asked and Richie sucked air in through his teeth in response.

“Um, Ben was getting pretty tired after out last dare and so Beverly told him to drink a five hour energy but Ben was scared that it was going to make his heart beat too fast or give him an aneurysm or something and he kept fretting about it for like 10 minutes and so Beverly just… downed one and then Ben felt like he had to drink one too so that if Bev _died_ she wouldn’t die alone and then I freaked out because I might have to pay rent alone but. Here we are.”

“You guys are so fucking weird.” Stan muttered, but he was smiling so Eddie figured he liked them too. Ben just laughed and started running to the quarry.

“Last one there is an eggboy!” Ben yelled and everyone laughed, walking after them, _definitely_ not running.

“Bill had to make out with him.” Eddie whispered to Richie, grabbing his hand so they were walking a little bit behind the rest of the group and gesturing to Stan.

“ _No way_. I knew it, I thought I saw some sexual tension there.” Richie whispered back, excitement lighting up his face, “What did _Mike_ do?”

“Dude, he was definitely into it. I felt like a _huge_ third wheel watching it happen… although Stan doesn’t know about Mike and Bill yet? He seems smart, so I’m sure he knows something is up but… we’ll see what happens.”

“Man, I _love_ the drama. Gives me life.” Richie sighed. Eddie laughed and Richie looked down and smiled in that way. Eddie suddenly felt so _happy_. He’d been cranky as fuck since he lost his clothes, but now things felt a little better, talking to Richie.  

“How was the karaoke bar?” Eddie asked and Richie looked down at his feet, kicking some rocks as he walked.

“It was fine.” Richie allowed and Eddie nodded.

“I saw all your dares on the group chat but did-”

“What are you doing, Eddie?” Richie asked, cutting him off but he didn’t sound angry, just… fondly amused?

“What do you mean?” Eddie asked, stopping and turning to Richie. He walked forward a little before stopping as well, kicking his feet. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Eddie, you’ve been avoiding me for a week. Which to be honest, I was expecting, because I figured we were both getting a little too attached for your comfort, but I wasn’t expecting this regression so _soon_ -”

“Wait, too close for _my_ comfort?” Eddie cut-in, slightly shocked at this shift in conversation, “What is _that_ supposed to mean?”

“I mean… you’re the one who doesn’t want us to date. You’re the one who established we’re only… sex.”

“Yeah, and you agreed to that.”

“Two _years_ ago!” Richie exclaimed, throwing his hands up and then running them through his hair, “Honestly, Eds, I’m sick of this. I’m tired of pretending like we’re nothing, like we aren’t… so much more than that, like we aren’t fucking _amazing together_. It’s stupid. We’re being so _stupid_ , Eddie.”

“You mean _I’m_ being stupid?” Eddie prodded and Richie rolled his eyes.

“No, that is not what I’m saying, Eddie, we are both in this relationship, we both could’ve-”

“Yeah, but you think it’s me who defined this and you think it’s _me_ who is stopping us from being happy, so just say it. Just admit it’s me.” Eddie snapped, crossing his arms over his chest defensively.

“Why are you doing this? Why do you keep trying to make me _not_ like you? It’s not going to work, Eds, you are not going to get me to back out of wanting this. I want you. All of you. And I am saying that now, I’m not going to pretend anymore. So officially, everything we are is in your hands. You know what I want. It’s up to you.” Richie stared at him for a long moment and when Eddie found himself at a loss for words, he huffed and walked away, towards the quarry and towards the rest of their group.

He felt like such a fucking idiot.

###

A lot of people thought Mike had everything figured out. And he kind of loved the fact that people believed this. He was good at keeping up the façade even though on the inside… Mike always had no fucking idea what he was doing. Literally none. But for some reason, somewhere around 8th grade, people started telling him he was smart, _wise_ even sometimes. People would ask him for advice and it would work and Mike wasn’t really sure how? But it would. Whenever Bill would get him and Eddie into trouble at school, Mike would be the one to convince the teacher that they probably shouldn’t call his parents because _they really are good kids_. Or when Eddie would have fights with his mother, Mike was the one he found to vent to and to calm him down.

Somehow, if he just went with his gut and thought about how much he loved his friends, things just worked out. But if he thought about things too much… he had no fucking idea what was going on. Like, if he thought about how many loans he’d had to take out to pay for school and how much more he was going to have to take out for veterinary school? He didn’t know what the fuck he was doing. When he thought about how eventually his father was going to expect him to move back to Derry and take care of his farm? He had no _fucking_ idea how he wasn’t going to disappoint his parents. When he thought about whether or not he was being a bad friend to Eddie by making fun of his Richie situation? He didn’t know what the _fuck_ to do. When he broke down every week and drove to the pound and thought about how badly he wanted to adopt a puppy even though he can’t afford it and doesn’t have the time to take care of it? He didn’t know what the FUCK TO DO.

Most things made Mike confused, which was frustrating because he couldn’t let anyone know that.

The only think that never confused him was Bill. From the moment Eddie introduced them, Mike knew in his gut that Bill was important. A big deal. A huge, huge deal. Something Mike would _never_ stop needing. He was the most headstrong, loving, creative, dedicated person that Mike had ever met, and he had this beautiful charisma that drew people to him without him even trying. And he never _ever_ made Mike feel like an outsider. All throughout elementary school, Mike had been told he was an outsider, that he didn’t _belong_ anywhere but the farm. His parents never said that out _loud_ , but the homeschooling and the sheltering didn’t do much to discourage that thought.

But then Bill smiled at him in that way and always made sure to invite him to their hangouts and always asked him how he was and _sincerely_ wanted to know and… plain and simple, he made Mike feel like he belonged. Honestly, he loved getting them out of trouble and he loved being the person they went to for advice because he finally had a place where he wanted to be. 

So, in conclusion, Mike had been in love with Bill since the sixth grade. He’d realized that what he felt was love in the ninth grade and he actually did something for the first time… sixth months ago. Maybe it was because they were finally out of Derry and so he was braver. Or maybe it was because the two of them were living off-campus together and Mike had to see him all smushy from sleep and fresh out of the shower and Facetiming his brother and it was just too much. Either way, one day Bill was sitting on the couch, wrapped up in blankets and typing away on his laptop and Mike couldn’t take it anymore, he just kissed him. And Bill smiled at him widely and kissed him back and it was perfect, just like everything with Bill was.

Why did it take him so long?

Because Mike was good at giving other people advice but again, he also didn’t know what the fuck he was doing. But in that moment, when Bill smiled up at him, eyes opening slowly, Mike knew he would do anything to make Bill smile like that again. Anytime something made Bill smile in that very particular way, Mike made a note of it. That list included: orange creamsicles, Georgie’s laugh, Eddie’s sass, any quote from Winston from New Girl, and most recently? Stan.

Bill looked at that boy he like he hung the fucking moon and it made Mike actually understand why people swoon. And Stan looked at Bill like he wanted to take him apart and then put him back together.  In the best of ways.

Mike wasn’t sure how Stan looked at him. If he went with his instincts, the three of them should be together. But he was also afraid that Stan wouldn’t want that, that both of them were too… dominant. While that could be bad, Mike was also endlessly intrigued by the conflict. Stan seemed stubborn and opinionated and Mike really wanted to push him and see what kind of sparks flew.

“Okay, so we’re probably jumping in there, aren’t we?” Stan asked, peering over the edge and interrupting Mike’s thoughts.

“Probably…” Eddie said, as he caught up with their group, trailing behind an upset looking Richie. Everyone’s phones collectively beeped, “Yes. That is exactly what we’re doing.”

“If we’re jumping who’s supposed to record it?” Bev asked, still bouncing on Ben’s shoulders. Mike looked over to Eddie who was staring down at his feet and pointedly not meeting anyone’s eyes. Something had _definitely_ happened there.

“Richie, do you mind staying back and recording?” Mike asked as he started pulling his shirt off and Richie nodded.

“Um… why are you taking your clothes off?” Stan’s strangled voice asked from behind him. Mike turned around slowly and found the boy staring at him with wide eyes.

“Well, I don’t want to walk around with wet clothes.” Mike explained with a laugh. Ben and Bev agreed with him and started de-robing as well.

“Oh, but we’re leaving the underwear on?” Stan asked when Mike had finished folding his clothes.

“… Yes. Do you not want me to?” Mike teased and Stan just rolled his eyes but Mike noticed a faint pink blush his cheeks.

“I’m just saying, we’re going to have wet underwear anyway. Why not just leave all of the clothes on?”

“Maybe I’ll take the underwear off before I put my clothes back on.” Mike explained with a wink and Stan made a choked off noise behind him as he walked away. “Now let’s _jump_ , bitches!”

###

Richie smiled as he listened to the echoes of his friends’ laughter over the splashing water. He didn’t think he’d realized until that very moment how much he loved all of his friends, how lucky he was to have them. Even if things with Eddie were… upsetting at the moment, he had a lot of good in his life.

His chest was still teetering on the edge of heartbreak, but he would get through it.

He turned his phone camera around and threw up a peace sign before ending the video and sending it off. He was about to turn to the tree and climb it while he waited for everyone to make their way back up the hill. However, just before he could walk over, he heard voices coming up from behind him, voices that were distinctly not the ones of his friends who he could still faintly hear in the water, fucking around.

“Tozier? Is that you?” A voice called and Richie squinted to see over the headlights that were shining on him.

“Oh fuck, Bowers? What are you doing here?” Richie asked, trying not to sound like this was the worst thing in the world. He didn’t really like Henry, but they guy hadn’t done anything specifically against him so… he didn’t want to be _too_ much of an asshole.

“Probably the same thing you are,” Henry said and now Richie could see that he was flanked by the whole of his group of friends, Patrick, Victor, and a couple of guys that Richie didn’t know.

“You doing the Dare thing too?” Richie asked and Henry nodded. He was about to elaborate but a guy who Richie was pretty sure was named _Belch_ pushed his shoulder.

“We don’t have fucking time for this, let’s just get it over with.” He said, tugging Henry to the cliff side. Bowers just nodded at Richie as they moved past him and Richie took it as a blessing from God that he didn’t have to continue that conversation.

But of course, Richie didn’t live in a world where good things happen to him so, after all of his friends had jumped, Richie was left alone with Bowers in the open field. Richie tried to look engaged in his phone, hoping he’d look too busy to talk, but that technique did not work on assholes apparently.

“So, whose group did you tag on with?” Bowers asked and there was something about the underlying implication that Richie couldn’t form his own group that pissed him off, but Richie just smiled up at him widely because _fuck this_.

“Mike Hanlon invited me and my roommates.” Richie explained. Henry nodded and seemed to consider that for a moment before smiling smugly.

“Wait, does that mean you’re on _Kaspbrak’s_ team?” he asked. And _what_ was _that_ tone of voice? Richie felt his cackles rise, but he just crossed his arms and leaned back against the tree trunk behind him.

“Yeah, Eddie. He’s there too. You know him?” Richie allowed, squinting his eyes to evaluate the boy in front of him. He felt his blood start to boil simply at the look on Bowers’ fucking face and he knew whatever the guy said next was going to piss him off.

“I know him. We went to high school together.” Henry explained, which seemed too blasé. Richie nodded and couldn’t decide if he wanted further explanation or if he wanted to push him over the cliff and into the water underneath.

“Oh. He doesn’t seem to like you very much, you know?” Richie added. Bowers just scoffed and nodded. It was quiet for a long moment before Henry spoke again and Richie had almost accepted that they were just going to sit here in the blissful quiet, leaning against the trunk of a tree like two distant acquaintances.

“You fucked him, yet?” Bowers asked nonchalantly.

“ _Yet_?” Richie balked and Henry just nodded and bumped his shoulder against Richie’s.

“Yeah… I know Eddie. Ever since high school he’s been a bit of a slut. So I reckon by now he’s either fucking you or Denbrough.”

“Wow, that is so unbelievably offensive, I can’t even breathe. _Amazing_.” Richie laughed and Bowers must’ve been a fucking idiot because he laughed with him, not realizing how pissed Richie was.

“I’ve seen you two together a few times though and I’m pretty sure you’ve fucked him,” Henry leered and Richie just stared at him, a smile frozen on his face because this was probably the funniest and worst thing that had ever happened to him and if Bowers was waiting for him to participate in this he was going to be waiting a while, “He’s a pretty good lay, right?”

“ _You’ve_ slept with Eddie?” Richie asked instinctively, not realizing the words coming out of his mouth until they’d already slipped past his defenses. Why the _fuck_ would Eddie sleep with this guy? Was he tricked? Coerced? Bamboozled? Hoodwinked?

“Fuck yeah. Many times,” Henry insisted and he actually _winked_ at him, “He’s got the best ass. Makes the best noises when you pull his hair when you fuck him from behi-”

“Okay, is this a norml conversation for you? Because I gotta say, it sounds like you’re looking to get fucking punched. _Are_ you looking to get punched here, Bowers?” Richie asked and Bowers still looked confused because, to be fair, Richie was still smiling. He just couldn’t _stop_. This was _insane_ and the _worst timing possible_. “If you are, I mean, you do you. I’m not going to kinkshame, if that’s your thing, keep it up. Because I am _definitely_ going to punch you.”

“What are you talking about Tozier? I thought you were cool?” Bowers asked as Richie pushed off the tree and ran his fingers through his hair.

“What? _Why_?” he asked, incredulous. He then took a moment to thank every god _ever_ believed in that he heard voices coming up the hill, voices he knew. His friends tumbled into view, dripping wet and laughing.

“Richie! Did you send the video in?” Mike called out to him as everyone ran straight for their clothes to get re-dressed. Richie nodded and began walking over, but Henry grabbed his hand to keep him back. He shifted Richie so he was looking at where Bev was bending over to grab her dress.

“Sight for sore eyes, am I right?” Henry whispered in his ear. Richie choked out a laugh and then started nodding.

“Yeah, okay, okay.” And Henry was still smiling when Richie turned around and punched him in the gut. Henry was _not_ smiling when Richie pulled back again to throw a right hook, hitting him straight on the jaw.

He heard Henry groan loudly and everyone behind him start yelling. He saw Henry stumble and pull his fist back to hit him. Richie _saw_ it coming, the guy telegraphed his move one-hundred percent, and he tried to pull back in time, but was a little too slow, Henry’s fist clipping him on the mouth.

Richie lunged forward but before they could meet again he saw Mike move in-between them and felt Bill pulling him backwards.

“What the fuck was that?” Henry yelled as Mike pushed him back away from Richie, who was holding up both middle fingers towards Bowers.

“Hey, you talk about any one of my friends _ever fucking again_ and I’ll rip your throat out, got it?”

“Richie, cool it, _Jesus_.” Bill whispered in his ear, tugging him back further.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Richie insisted, shaking Bill off of him and moving past Mike, “But _you_ need to apologize to my friends.”

“Oh, fuck you, Tozier, and your _whore_ friends-”

“You are such a dick, Bowers!” Richie lunged towards him again and this time it was Eddie that popped in front of him, half dressed and pushing Richie back with both hands on his chest.

“Richie, what are you _doing_? Don’t do this, he’s not worth it.” Eddie reasoned, bringing his hand to Richie’s mouth and wiping away the blood that spread from the cut on his lip.

“No, he isn’t but, _you_ are and he cannot _say_ that shit.”

“Oh you are so fucking _whipped_ , Tozier.” Bowers spit out. He was pushing against Mike (who honestly didn’t even seem to be trying too hard as he held him back) and Richie laughed again.

“I’ll show you _whipped_ you mullet-wearing asshole!” Richie yelled back, but he didn’t move because Eddie didn’t want him to and yeah, honestly he _was_ whipped. He wasn’t about to push Eddie away for anything.

“Okay, we are _going_ before this gets out of hand.” Stan’s voice cut through the havoc and Eddie nodded in agreement, grabbing Richie’s hand and pulling him to the car.

“I think even _more_ out of hand is a more appropriate sentiment.” Eddie groaned.

###

The car was alive with conversation as they drove away, mostly full of everyone talking about how great it was to see Richie punch Bowers, how much they wished they could’ve done it themselves, how lucky they were that the rest of his cronies weren’t there at the moment, etc. Everyone was talking, except Eddie.

“Are you mad at me?” Richie whispered, voice hidden under everyone else’s chatter, only audible to the boy next to him. Eddie sighed and shook his head.

He wasn’t angry. He was… okay he was always a little bit angry, that was just a facet of his personality. But he wasn’t angry at Richie, no. He was angry at himself… and a little bit Henry Bowers. Honestly, he didn’t know exactly what Henry had said, but he knew he definitely deserved exactly what Richie gave him. And probably more. Eddie had honestly heard it all: he was a slut, easy, only good for a lay, etc. Bowers wasn’t creative and even a few years of college education didn’t change that so Eddie had heard it all since high school.

High school, where Eddie made the grave mistake of having sex with _the worst person in the world_. It wasn’t even an emotional thing, Bowers was just the only other person in town who admitted that he didn’t care about the gender of who he fucked. Eddie remembered the first time they hooked up, too. He had been hiding from Hockstetter in an alley behind the pharmacy and Henry had been there, nursing his pride and a black eye that Eddie was pretty sure his dad gave him. And it just kind of happened. Grossest thing Eddie had ever done, but he was upset and confused and Henry was there.

It started a theme in his life, honestly. When he wanted to fuck, when he wanted to feel intimate and close to another human being, he did it with… whoever was closest. Like, he didn’t sleep with people he felt anything for because that was easiest. Less messy.

And yet all of a sudden Richie was offering him everything everybody ever told him he was supposed to want, intimacy and love in a form that wasn’t _just_ sex. And Eddie wanted it. Which scared the fuck out of him because wasn’t he supposed to hate that stuff? He was supposed to be okay on his own and all of a sudden that wasn’t enough anymore. Life without Richie… wasn’t enough anymore. Plain and simple.

“You hurt your hand punching his face.” Eddie muttered, pulling Richie’s right hand into his lap and running his thumb gently over the bruises that were already starting to form there.

“It was worth it. He was saying some pretty awful shit, Eds.”

“Don’t call me that,” Eddie snapped instinctively and then felt his stomach flutter when Richie smiled at him, obviously expecting the reaction, “I’ll get my boyfriend to punch you in the face.” He whispered, practically inaudible and Richie tensed slightly.

“What?”

“My boyfriend. He doesn’t seem to like it when people say awful shit about me so…” Eddie trailed off and Richie’s eyes lit up but he didn’t break otherwise.

“You really think ‘ _Eds’_ is as bad as anything Henry Bowers could say?” Richie asked, raising one eyebrow and Eddie nodded definitively.

“Yes. I hate _‘Eds’_.” Eddie deadpanned. Richie’s gaze was intense and it was hard to look away, even as they moved closer and closer together.

“No you don’t.” Richie breathed practically against Eddie’s lips.

“I really don’t.” Eddie wanted to cry the second their lips pressed together because it felt like a huge weight had been lifted of his shoulders. Admitting to himself that Richie was all he wanted and deciding to do something about that was just so… _easy_. Why had he been making it so hard? He was so stupid. Richie was right and he hated admitting that but Richie was _right_.

“So that was _such_ an Eddie way to ask me to be your boyfriend.” Richie said with a laugh as he pulled back for breath.

“What is _that_ supposed to mean?” Eddie asked and he was alarmed that somehow he could manage to be annoyed at Richie without any of his love for him lessening, without any of that warm feeling in his stomach dissipating. The two of them challenging each other was just a part of how much he loved him.

“You didn’t even _ask_. You just casually dropped into the conversation that you made this _groundbreaking_ decision.”

“It wasn’t that groundbreaking.” Mike chimed in and all of a sudden Eddie realized that the chatter from before was completely gone and everyone was staring at them. Apparently he’d been back trapped in that bubble of Richie that he got caught in so often.

“Hey! This is an A to B conversation, you nosy fucks!” Eddie snapped, leaning forward and throwing a balled up napkin at the back of Mike’s neck.

“Eyy! Don’t distract the driver!” Mike yelled back, “I hold everyone’s life in my hands!”

“It’s okay dad, I trust you.” Ben chimed in, patting Mike’s shoulder before turning around and looking at Eddie and Rich, “By the way, I’m glad you guys are dating now. We should double date, you guys and me and Bev.”

“No, we would never do that. And if we did it would be with Mike and Bill.” Richie deadpanned as he interlaced their fingers together.

“We would never do that.” Bill volleyed back immediately and Richie nodded as if he expected it.

“Then we would never do that. Sorry, Benny.”

“Was that an _Office_ quote?” Stan asked, smiling at Bill who was sitting in the middle of him and Ben. Eddie liked his smile. He liked Stan a lot altogether, he really hoped he stuck around.

“Yeah, Bill and Richie have seen that show at least… 8000 times.” Mike explained from the front seat.

“They’ve spent a lot of time trying to decide who of us is which character from the show.”

“It’s too hard to decide. We’re all blends. No one fits a specific role.” Bill explained, “Like Ben is Toby but he’s also Michael and a little bit of Plop. Which is an odd blend but… true.”

“Yeah,” Richie added, “And Mike is Robert California mixed with Oscar mixed with Pam.”

“You guys are so weird.” Eddie rolled his eyes, “My boyfriend is so weird.”

“Eddie is Erin mixed with Angela.” Bill interjected, ruining what could’ve been a very sweet moment where Eddie probably would’ve gotten another kiss.

“This doesn’t feel like an important conversation. What are we doing for our next dare?”

“It doesn’t say. It just says go to the roof of the library.” Bev explained and everyone started wildly conjecturing about what their dare could possibly be, but Eddie didn’t listen, really. He mostly just stared at his boyfriend, who was honestly coming up with the worst of the ideas. But Eddie didn’t care.

Because he had a boyfriend. Because he was in love.


	4. Challenge Concluding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE LAST OOOONNE! WHAT??? thanks for reading and I hope you like this, i really do, it's a little shorter than the past ones but i still like it so i hope you do too

“So… how are we supposed to get in?” Bill asked as they all walked up to the library doors. He grabbed the handle and shook it, testing the lock. When he turned around and faced the rest of them, everyone was staring at Ben who was pointedly not meeting anyone’s eyes.

“Ben,” Mike started, “You work here. You have a key, let us in.” he said, as if it was simple, but it was pretty obvious it wasn’t. You didn’t have to be Bev, who know the boy for the better part of a decade, to know that Ben didn’t want to do it. He was shifting his feet and biting his lip and obviously trying to make himself smaller than he was.

“Honey, they love you there. You’ve never done anything wrong… ever. I’m sure even if by some magical possibility they do find out you used your key when you shouldn’t have, they will not fire you. Come on, we gotta do the last dare.” Bev kissed his cheek once and Ben sighed loudly. He gave her a long-suffering look and then pulled his keys out of his pocket, making everyone cheer.

“I’m doing this for Bev, not for any of you losers!” he called over the loud yells, but Bev knew he was lying. He was smiling much too big as Richie threw his arm around Ben’s shoulder for him to be telling the truth. As they all clambered into the library and found their way to the stairs leading to the roof, Bev grabbed Ben’s hand, pulling them to the back of the group who was chatting loudly.

It sounds cheesy as fuck and don’t ever tell Richie she felt this way, but she was struck by a sudden and overwhelming fondness, watching her friends laugh together.

“You ever think how lucky we are?” Bev asks Ben quietly. He looks over at her with furrowed brows, smiling like she was a little crazy.

“What do you mean?” he asked, slowing down with her so their friends couldn’t hear them, although honestly none of them were listening. Richie was too busy fawning over Eddie and Mike was too busy fawning over Bill and Stan.

“Just… do you remember high school? When it was just you and me against the whole fucking world?” Bev asked. Ben smiled widely and nodded.

“Of course I do, it’s still like that Bevvy.”

“No, no it’s not. We have Richie now, and Mike and Bill and… all of them. It’s nice, don’t you think?” Bev explained.

“What, I wasn’t enough for you?” Ben asked, faux-hurt in his voice as he stopped on the top step, pulling her back a little. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

“You know that isn’t what I meant, you’re more than enough for me,” she said, throwing her arms around Ben’s shoulders, “It’s just nice to have friends.”

“Yeah,” Ben agreed, nodding slowly, “they’re kind of huge dorks but, I like them.” Ben allowed and Bev laughed again.

“Okay, because you’re _not_ the biggest dork out of literally all of us.” Bev laughed and Ben scoffed.

“Oh _please_ , Richie is a huge dork! He owns like 40 different Pops. _And_ I had a very long conversation with Stan about birds on the drive over here, so at least that guy has got me beat.”

“Yeah, tell that to your signed poster of New Kids on the Block that’s hanging in our bedroom.” Bev retorted and Ben gasped.

“Bev! Low blow, low fucking blow, baby.” Ben replied and Beverly laughed loudly. They were both laughing when they got to the top of the stairs, joining their friends on the roof.

“So, what’s the dare? Please don’t tell me we’re jumping again, I don’t think I can handle that.” Bev said as the two of them joined the group. Of course, right as she spoke their phones started to beep.

“Drink the whole bottle? Whole bottle of what?” Eddie asked, looking around him in a wide turn, “Oh fuck.” He said when he spotted a bottle of tequila sitting on the ledge behind them. Richie let out a wild cheer and went to grab it, holding it in the air like a prize. Bev laughed as she pulled out her phone to record the moment.

“Alright, who’s first?” Richie shouted. No one volunteered.

“Um, _not_ me.” Ben insisted with a laugh, “Tequila gets me fucked up. Ask Bev.”

“It’s true. He gets real slutty.” Bev explained, stone-faced.

“Okay! So Ben first then.” Richie announced, moving towards him with purpose. Ben backed up and pointed at him sternly.

“No! Stay over there!” he yelled and Bill, nice as he is, cut in to save him.

“I think it should be Stan.” Bill argued and okay maybe he wasn’t that nice, but it was nice to Ben at least.

“What?” the boy squeaked, “What the fuck, why me?”

“Well, you’re the only one who hasn’t done a real dare.” Bill said with a shrug, but he had a smug smile pulling at his lips. Stan scoffed.

“Um, I jumped off that fucking cliff! I agreed to spend the night with you weirdoes! I kissed your dumb face, didn’t I?” Stan argued, pushing Bill’s shoulder a little bit.

“Okay, well two of those were hardly a struggle.” Richie interjected, shaking the bottle at Stan, “Come on, angel face, just do the first shot.” Stan just stared at him.

“Call me that _one_ more time, Tozier.” Stan deadpanned and Bev was _so_ glad she was getting this on camera. Richie opened and closed his mouth for a moment, as if testing Stan’s resolve before making the decision everyone knew he would anyway.

“Angel face.” Richie said quickly. Stan grabbed the bottle from his hand and smacked him on the back of the head, making Richie wince loudly. Stan didn’t listen to his protestations, though, just uncorked the bottle and threw it back, chugging for a long moment.

“Holy _fuck_ that’s disgusting.” Stan groaned when he finished, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Shit though, that was impressive,” Mike said, taking the bottle from him and turning to everyone else, “Come on guys, let’s get fucked!”

“Let’s get fucked!” they all yelled back, laughing loudly. They knew in reality it wasn’t enough to get them _really_ fucked up, probably just two shots per person were in the bottle, but it was still fun to do, dancing around and drinking tequila and getting that fuzzy feeling in their tummies. Bev ended up standing next to Stan, watching Richie pour tequila in Bill’s mouth as Mike cheered him on. Bev watched as Stan watched them, a bemused smile on his face.

“You like them, don’t you.” Bev said, leaning in close so that Stan could hear him over the music that Ben had started to play.

“None of your business.” Stan stammered, child-like and caught off-guard. Bev got the sudden urge to laugh at how obvious he was, but that was probably just the buzz of tequila making her a bit of a jerk.

“It’s okay, Stan, they totally like you too.” She added, smiling as kindly as she could. Luckily she had a good smile, so Stan’s front broke a little.

“You think? I mean… they’re together.” Stan said and Beverly nodded.

“I know, still, they like you too. But, obviously, that isn’t going to mean anything coming from me, so you should talk to them,” Bev offered, “Seriously, talk to them. As someone who has been in a very healthy relationship for an impressive amount of time, I can confidently tell you communication is key. Don’t be like Richie and Eddie.” She added and Stan laughed at that, finally. She took his hand and pulled him towards the rest of the group, towards where Ben had taken her phone and was finishing filming.

“Is that it? Are we done with the bottle?” Stan asked when they got close enough. Bill nodded and burped loudly, as if to prove that he finished it. Bev grimaced but Bill and Richie laughed like it was the funniest thing he could’ve done.

Why did she hang out with so many boys?

“Okay, so we’re sending the video in now? We’re almost done?” Bev asked excitedly. That five-hour energy was wearing off and she really needed sleep soon. Booze made her sleeeeepy.

“Yeah, I just sent it in! We should be getting a text soon.” Ben said, voice excited.

“Fuck, I hope we win.” Eddie said, bouncing on the balls of his feet and leaning into Richie’s chest.

“Even if we don’t,” Bill cut-in, swaying a little as he grabbed Mike’s hand in his, “I’m still proud of us. I’m still glad we did this. This night was really fun. Like fucking amazing, top-notch stuff.” Everyone murmured their agreement, smiling at each other softly as they stood in a circle, waiting for their text.

“Best night of my life.” Bev heard Richie whisper into Eddie’s neck, just barely audible and definitely not meant for her ears. It still made her smile, though. The text came through just a moment after that. They all whipped out their phones and-

_Thank you for your participation, but unfortunately your team came in second. Hope to see you compete next year!_

“Well, fuck.” Eddie swore, “I left my favorite baby blue shirt in Old Navy for nothing!” It broke the tension, making everyone laugh again, despite the moue still in place on Eddie’s mouth.

“Guess we’re just a bunch of losers, huh?” Bill beamed as Mike pulled him under his arm.

“I think I like it that way.” Beverly added, “Winning is overrated anyway.” They all agreed and it even got Eddie to smile. Well, only for a moment before his face dropped.

“Oh wait, shit, did the clock say 2:30?” he asked and they all nodded, “Shit, I have to be at work in like half an hour!” he exclaimed, pulling away from Richie in a panic. Richie just gripped his hand tighter and tugged him back in.

“Hey, don’t worry, I’ll drive you there. We’ll get you there in no time.” Richie assured him and Eddie nodded.

“Um, Richie, you are all of our rides’? You can’t just leave us.” Stan cut in and Richie just stared at him for a beat.

“Well then everyone hurry the _fuck_ up, we gotta get my boyfriend to work!”

     

###

“Hey!” Eddie greeted, coming out of the backroom of the diner, now adorned in black jeans, a white t-shirt, an apron, and a name-tag, “You guys eating here?” he asked, sounding genuinely amused. Stan nodded and crossed his hands before him on the table.

“Yeah, I hear the service here is pretty great. I talked to one guy who said one of the waiters here was ‘the cutest thing this side of the Mississippi’? I don’t know, we’ll see who else is here.” Stan shrugged, smiling back at him. Eddie rolled his eyes as he pulled a notepad out of his apron.

“Wow, thanks Stan,” he said with a cheesy smile, “Can I get you guys something to drink? Or you ready to order?”

“Just a coffee for me, please,” Stan said, “I’ve got to be at the bakery in… two and a half hours so. Please bring me caffeine.” Bill chuckled next to him.

“I’ll have the same. I’ve got to walk him to the bakery in a few hours, so I also need caffeine.” He chimed in. Eddie nodded and looked to Mike, who was staring at Stan and Bill with fond eyes.

“Mike?” Eddie had to ask, a teasing smile on his lips. Mike looked at Eddie, slightly startled and he coughed once to hide a similar smile.

“Sorry, um cherry coke and cheeseburger please? And a plate of fries for the table because otherwise Bill will steal all of mine.” Mike asked and Eddie nodded once definitively.

“Coming right up. I’ll be right back with your drinks.” Eddie grabbed their menus and whisked away, leaving the three of them alone again. Stan took a deep breath and sat in the silence for a moment, just enjoying the calm. It was nice, the way his thigh just barely touched Bill’s where they were sitting next to each other in the booth, how Mike’s legs were long enough that their knees grazed, how Bill and Mike’s hands were tangled gently on the table, even though they were sitting across from each other. It was all casually affectionate in an easy way that Stan had never experience before.

Bev’s words were playing on repeat in his head. He knew he needed to be brave, needed to say something but… life is scary and words are hard, so. Plus, he’d spent the majority of his life a repressed gay Jewish boy, so they idea of not only dating a boy, but _two boys_ was jarring. Exciting and something he wanted more than he wanted anything else at the moment, but still a little scary.

“So, how long have you worked at the bakery?” Mike asked him, pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Oh,” Stan responded, a little startled that he forgot that Mike wouldn’t know that. He felt so comfortable with this whole group of people he had forgotten they’d known him like four hours, “Since freshman year. I went there a lot first semester to study and stuff because I went in once and fell in love. The owner is Jewish and she’s… a lot like the family I left behind but much sweeter so, I liked being around her. Then I told her how I used to bake with my ma a lot growing up and she offered me a job. The hours can kill me, so fucking early, but I get most of the day free to study and its good money.”

“That’s awesome. You like baking?” Bill asked, leaning on his elbow on the table to watch Stan talk.

“I adore it. It’s… therapeutic.” Stan said, which was probably an understatement for how much he loved it, but he didn’t want to seem like a dork. It was just… when he was in the heat of the kitchen, the repetition of kneading the dough, the smell of break baking in the air, it was one of the few times he was ever able to get out of his head.

“I’m the same way with writing.” Bill interjected and Stan smiled.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Whenever I have a bad day, the first place I want to be is in front of my laptop, writing, going somewhere new.” Bill explained. Stan nodded insistently.

“I totally get that. What about you Mike? You have a bad day, where do you wanna be?” Stan asked and Mike just shrugged.

“With my friends. I never feel better than when I’m with my friends.” Mike smiled and both he and Bill swooned.

“Okay! Here are your drinks,” Eddie said, placing their drinks in front of them, “And if you need anything else, you three are literally my only customers so just holler. I’ll be in the back, helping Lisa with some inventory.” The three of them thanked him as he walked away before they turned back to each other.

Stan took a long drink of his coffee for strength, knowing what he had to do now.

“So, I gotta ask… elephant in the room, here. What are you guys, exactly?” Stan asked, sounding much braver than he felt.

“We’re in love.” Mike said simply as he messed with the straw of his cherry coke, staring between Bill and Stan.

“What?” Both he and Bill asked immediately.

“We’re in love?”

“You’re in love?”

Mike just shrugged and smiled at Bill, “Um, yes. Are we not?”

“I… well, we’ve never said the words _out loud_.” Bill stated, laughing a little maniacally, and man, Stan felt like he should leave. This probably wasn’t a moment he should be a part of… but something kept him glued to his seat and it was probably the beautiful smile creeping on Mike’s face and the way Bill’s hand was still on his thigh.

“No, but we both _know_ it.” Mike explained, gesturing with his hands as if that made everything make sense. Bill still stared at him a little dumbfounded, even if he was starting to smile.

“ _I_ didn’t know! I was driving myself crazy trying to find a time to tell you, you _ass_.” Bill laughed and covered his face with the hand that wasn’t still clinging to Stan.

“Um, so… should I… go?” Stan asked, biting his lip. He didn’t want to make this really very sweet moment about him but, he still felt mega-awkward.

“No!” Bill answered quickly and Mike shook his head too, “I don’t want you to go.” Bill’s voice was earnest but how could he mean that? Why would either of them want Stan there when they had each other? Bev hinted at the fact that they liked him too, but had she seen this? The naked adoration in their eyes as they looked at each other? Because that was… disarming.

“But… you guys are in love. Why would you want me here?” Stan asked, voice soft and a little sad. He was confused and honestly, them wanting to date him, _both of them_ , just felt too good to be true. Mike looked at Stan and then Bill, eyebrows furrowing like he was trying to find the right words to say, the right words that he always seemed to have at the ready. But this time, it was Bill who spoke.

“Sometimes, when I look at you… I feel like I can’t breathe.” Bill said simply and Stan felt his stomach flutter, “And I would really like to get to know you… and if you just want casual with us, that’s fine. We can do that too but we both want more. We want _you_.” Stan felt his draw drop a little, shocked by the casual sincerity. Stan saw Bill lean in a little, like he wanted to kiss him but was waiting for permission and that sent a thrill right through Stan, the power he had over him. But before he could lean over and kiss Bill like he wanted to so badly, he caught Mike staring at them out of the corner of his eye.

“You too?” he asked him and Mike smiled, “You can’t breathe when you look at me?” there was a hint of teasing in his voice and Mike laughed a little.

“Honestly? I like the way you look at him.” Mike admitted. Stan couldn’t help but gawk.

“You like that fact that I wanna fuck your boyfriend, that makes you want to date me?” Stan asked him incredulously, and he couldn’t help but laugh when Bill choked on his coffee next to him.

“That’s not it, exactly,” Mike laughed, shaking his head, “Do I have to have some poetic way to say it? I just like you. Bill likes you. We want to try this. I think… you and me may take a little more work than either of us and Bill, though.”

“You think so?” Stan asked, stomach turning a little. He was pretty fucking worried about what Mike had to say next.

“Well we’re both…” Mike looked at Bill with searching eyes and the boy just raised one eyebrow at him and waited for him to continue, as if it was a challenge, “dominant.” Mike finished, apparently meeting Bill’s challenge head on.

“Dominant?” Stan asked. He’d never really thought of himself like that, not in those words exactly. But he supposed… he did like to be in charge and he genuinely did like taking care of other people. Maybe he was dominant? “That’s a bad thing?”

“Not for me.” Bill chimed in before taking a big drink of coffee. Mike smiled at him fondly and nodded.

“I just wonder how it will affect our dynamic, two dominant personalities. It doesn’t mean I don’t want to, god no. Quite the opposite. I can’t wait to see what happens. I can’t wait to get to know you.” Mike said. Stan smiled widely.

“Yeah, okay. It should be simple, right? Just three people who… want to see if dating works.” Stan spoke, trying to convince himself mostly. Mike and Bill both nodded assuredly.

“So you want to date us?” Bill asked, voice slightly tentative. Stan smiled and kissed his cheek once.

“Yeah. Yes. Definitely. I’d like that.” Then the three of them proceed to have another moment where they smile and make a lot of eye-contact and laugh and of course it is promptly cut-off by Eddie.

“I have food! And you are not allowed to be mad at me, because really, I’ve had it ready for like a few minutes but I was trying to wait for a moment where it didn’t look like you guys were having a serious discussion and looking at each other like you wanted to jump bones, but that didn’t really happen. I’m sorry if I interrupted.” Eddie explained with absolutely no shame as he set the food down in front of them.

“It’s okay, Ed.” Bill said with a laugh, immediately eating like four fries. “I think our conversation was wrapping up anyway.”

“Ah, perfect,” he said with a grin, “Hey, where is Richie? Wasn’t he your guys’ ride? Did he just leave you here?”

“Uh, yes. He and Bev and Ben are bougie as fuck and wanted Starbucks, so they dropped us here and are meeting us later.” Mike explained before taking a giant bite of his burger. Eddie rolled his eyes, like he was prone to do at any mention of his new boyfriend.

“If that fucker thinks I’m going to let him in here with _Starbucks-_ ”

“Eddie Spaghetti!” Richie yelled out, surprising them all and wrapping his arms around his boyfriend. “Did you miss me?” he asked over Eddie’s squeals, kissing him loudly on the cheek.

“Jesus, ‘Chee, you scared the fuck out of me!” Eddie snapped, pulling out of his boyfriend’s arms and slapping him on the arm hard. Richie just stared at him with wide, happy eyes.

“What did you just call me?” he asked as he rubbed his arm gently. Eddie blushed a little and shook his head, searching for an answer but he was saved by Ben and Bev pushing by him, Bev sliding into the booth next to Mike and Ben squishing next to Stan.

“You mind if I sit here?” Ben asked Stan and he shook his head, even though honestly he didn’t really have an option. Ben had already pushed him over into Bill, making room for his wide-ass shoulders. They were both sipping on frappacinos and Eddie glared at them.

“You guys can’t drink that in here.” Eddie scolded and while Ben looked like he felt a little bad, Bev just stared at him as she took a big drink. Then of course, she handed it to Eddie so he could have some too. That seemed to appease him somewhat.

“Hey, Benny, you stole my seat,” Richie chimed in, “I wanted to sit next to Stan.” He pouted and Stan felt himself instinctively roll his eyes. He couldn’t stop it around this boy.

“Well my lap is still open if you wanna climb over?” Stan deadpanned and he should’ve known better by now, because Richie’s eyes widened and he went to throw himself over Ben, but luckily everyone at the table stopped him.

“Richie no!” practically everyone shouted.

“Why is it always ‘Richie no’? Why can’t someone just _once_ say ‘Richie, yes?’” he pouted and Bev immediately scoffed across the table.

“I think I’ve heard Eddie scream that a few times.” She laughed and Eddie pushed her softly.

“What the fuck Bev?” he griped as everyone laughed, except Richie, who just smiled down at Eddie, looking ecstatic and endlessly tender. “I came out to have a good time, and I’m feeling really attacked right now.”

“Good one, babe,” Richie said to Bev, squeezing in next to her in the booth, “Come on Eds, sit with us!” Richie yelled, patting his knee. Eddie shook his head and furrowed his brow.

“No, Richie, I’m at work. That means I have to _work_.” He protested.

“Come on Eddie,” Bill chimed in, “The place is completely empty. It’s three in the morning, just sit with us!” Eddie huffed but agreed.

“Fine,” he sighed and everyone mini-cheered, “But if someone walks in I have to ditch your asses.” He said as he grabbed a chair from another table and pulled it over to their booth. Richie immediately hopped out of his seat and took the chair from him.

“Here, babe, you take the comfy seat. I’ll take this one.” Richie said, shifting the chair around so he could straddle it and face the table. Eddie smiled and nodded before sliding in next to Bev.

“So,” Richie started, staring at them all with a wide smile, “What were we talking about?” There was a slightly awkward moment where he, Bill, and Mike stared at each other, searching for the right words to say. 

“Bill can’t breathe when he looks at me.” Stan interjected, making Bill groan loudly. Richie laughed haughtily.

“Re _ally_?” Richie asked, taking on a rather awful southern accent, “Well I do declare, he is a rather _hand_ some gentleman.” Eddie giggled from across the table and leaned in close to Richie.

“And we all know Billy has a weakness for handsome men.” Eddie teased, winking at Mike. Everyone laughed and Mike _blushed_ which just gave Stan all kinds of feelings.

“Wow, Eddie, my love, are you… saying that Mike is more handsome than me?” Richie asked, sounding fake-hurt.

“How would he be saying that?” Ben asked before slurping loudly from his drink.

“Because if Bill was so into handsome boys, and I was the handsomest, obviously Bill and I would’ve run away together by now.” Richie explained and no one scoffed louder than Eddie.

“Are you saying that the only thing keeping you from leaving me for Bill is that he doesn’t want you?” Eddie deadpanned and this time no one laughed louder than Richie.

“Oh baby, you keep me on my toes. Don’t know what I’d do without you.” Richie said, leaning over to kiss the top of Eddie’s head with a loud smack.

“Hey, Mike,” Ben said, pulling everyone’s attention from Richie and Eddie who were still play-bickering, “Can I have some of your burger?”

“Benny, if you want food, order it yourself.” Bev cut in, but Mike just shook his head.

“No, it’s okay, he can have half.” Mike assured, passing a half of his burger across the table, “Oh wait, wait, it has pickles on it. I know you hate pickles.” He added, reaching over to stop Ben, but Bill batted his hand away, reaching over Stan.

“Ey, I’ll take them.” Bill said and the chatter continued, amicable and filled with laughter and teasing and warmth. Stan didn’t know what to do with himself, surrounded by people who made him feel so comfortable and safe. Fuck, who would’ve guessed one night, one decision could change his life so much? Bring him so many amazing people?

“Penny for your thoughts?” Bev asked, tapping her foot against his. It was just the two of them talking, everyone else caught up in their own raucous conversation.

“You’d be overpaying.” Stan said, making Beverly laugh, “Just happy to be here, that’s all.” Stan shrugged and Beverly smiled like she understood. Which she probably did.

“I’m happy you’re here too.” She said sincerely and they smiled at each other for a short moment, before Bill tugged on Stan’s sleeve and pulled him into his and Mike’s conversation about which element each of them would bend if they were in the Last Airbender universe.

Eventually, they all had to leave. A couple customers walked in, so Eddie had to get back to work. Ben wouldn’t stop yawning, so Richie offered to drive he and Bev home. And of course, Stan had a job to get to, so Bill and Mike walked him to the bakery, eyes heavy and drooping but hands strong and soft gripping his tightly as they walked.

“So, what time are you off?” Mike asked when they got to the bakery.

“Ten, usually. I have my first class at eleven.” Stan explained.

“You wanna come over for lunch?” Bill asked, a shy smile on his face that spread wider when Stan nodded.

They might have all had to leave, but Stan knew deep down that they’d always find a way back to each other. It felt cheesy as fuck to think, especially since he barely knew these people but… they were important. He knew. They were good _together_. If this was what it felt like to be a loser, he didn’t really want to be a winner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo I can't believe I actually finished this and I cannot believe how much I love these losers. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!! Come say [hi to me](http://themightychipmunk.tumblr.com/) anytime bc i love you

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me a comment because I'm very lonely hmmmmm.


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